The Weekly Insight

We’re at an important inflection point for Federal Reserve interest rate policy. The meeting coming up in just 9 days may be the most important of the whole cycle and the market is on edge about what the Fed will do next. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-true-hope-vs-false-hope/

Wrapping up something like one of the quickest rises in interest rate policy in history was never going to be easy. But last week we started to see some of the most visible cracks amongst FOMC members on the correct path moving forward.  What does this mean for markets over the coming weeks and months? Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-some-vs-several/

It was a relatively quiet holiday week in the markets last week. We probably won’t be that lucky this week with the CPI data coming out on Wednesday. But we thought we’d take the break in the action to look at a much longer-term problem: Social Security. The trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund put out their annual analysis 10 days ago. It wasn’t pretty. Read more here:  https://insightwealt...

It was a good week in the markets last week as fears of a major bank contagion subsided and continuing positive data on inflation rolled in. This pause in the "drama" gives us a chance to look into future risks and this week we look at the economic impact of the end of payment forebearance on student loans. It has the potential to be a big one. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup....

Read more here:  https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-so-closeand-yet-so-far/

Read more here:  https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-loose/

It’s easy to get swept up in the news.  Last week was no different.  Chairman Powell’s comments to Congress shook expectations for interest rates.  But sometimes it is important to look back and see how trends are moving over the long-term, instead of getting wrapped up in the day-to-day. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-wheres-the-peak-part-2/

We all have had formative experiences in our youth.  Maybe it was that first job, or successes in academics or athletics.  For the team at Insight, one of most memorable (not always in a good way!) experiences was our time working at McDonald’s.  Everyone should have to flip a burger when they’re young.  It teaches you a lot.  But what we didn’t imagine at the time was that the price of a McDonald...

There was a great deal of fretting in the market last week.  Higher than expected PCE numbers, a renewed focus on Ukraine, and growing expectations of rate hikes weighed on all indices.  There is habit in the market of having a short-term bias – a focus on the latest news of the moment.  But sometimes we need to peel back the onion and look deeper.  In this week’s episode, we take a deeper look at...

Three years ago this week was the first time we wrote one of these memos. 156 weeks – and 156 memos – later, we will be the first to admit it is sometimes hard to produce a topic to talk about each week. What is important? What will you – our readers – find interesting? Over the last several years, the entire world has been consumed by creating “content”. The financial media is no different.

It has not exactly been a three-year period full of good news. It's understandable, then, when we have a good start to the year – as we have so far in 2023 – we’re all waiting for the other shoe to drop.  This week we want to dive into that “other shoe” and why, even if it does drop, we still think portfolios can have a strong recovery year.  Let’s dive in.

There have been many “post-Fed” commentaries in these pages over the last year, an indication of just how important interest rate policy has been to the market and the economy.  We’ve digested and expounded on countless Powell-isms and tried to read the tea leaves of where the Fed is going. Listen in to hear more on this week's episode. Read More: https://insightwealthgroup.com/hearing-what-w...

This has been a weird start to the year.  Sentiment – at least as reported on the news – is decidedly negative.  Market performance? Just the opposite.  But the markets seem to be on path for a phenomenon which has historically indicated bullish sentiment.  We walk through that trigger – and what may be standing in its way – in this week’s edition of the Weekly Insight. Read more here: https://ins...

There’s a tug of war going on with market sentiment right now. The earnings season has kicked off and – at least last week – it wasn’t pretty. But the broader economic data we’re seeing – including last week’s PMI read – keep looking better and better. The result? A choppy week in the market as neither side is coming out the victor. What is going sway this battle for momentum in the market? Read m...

It's been a good start to the year in the markets. But a lot of “pundits” are warning of a drop in earnings or an earnings recession. That’s a scary term – but what does it mean for market performance? Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-bad-earnings-good-markets/

Anyone thinking we would ease into 2023 was given a wake-up call last week. The long and drawn out battle for the House Speakership was the big news story – and while it didn’t impact markets directly, the concessions made to get Kevin McCarthy the Speaker’s gavel may have lingering effects. And then there was the jobs report – something that has caused drama many times in recent months.  Read mor...

It’s tempting to write the “Crystal Ball” piece this time of year. But we’re not fortune tellers at Insight.  We can, however, pick out big trends and begin to understand how they might impact the market in the coming year. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-big-trends/

Happy Holidays! In our last podcast before the holidays, we take a look at the recent pronouncements from Federal Reserve Chairman Powell and what they mean as we look into 2023. The market reacted a bit like Clark from Christmas Vacation getting a subscription to the Jelly of the Month Club. But should we have been surprised? Or did Chairman Powell do exactly what we should have expected by now? ...

It was a slow week in the markets as everyone waits for the “Powell-palooza” we’re going to get at the year-end Fed meeting this week.  Economic data was positive throughout the week and showed inflation continuing to come down – if not at the pace some would like.  Given the break in the action, we wanted to bring you up to speed on a piece of legislation that may work its way through Congress be...

Last week saw a number of wild swings in the market from a mixed bag of economic data and the last major comments from Chairman Powell prior to the next Fed meeting. Read more here:  https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-mixed-bag/

Last week, we discussed the four big “expectation moments” for the market for the rest of this year. With the release of the Fed minutes last Wednesday, we have one of those moments behind us. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-tea-leaves/

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you’re able to enjoy some quality time with your family this week. Just a quick reminder that the markets are closed on Thursday and close at 12:00PM CST on Friday. Our offices will keep the same hours. Last week was a bit of a hangover from the (very good) CPI data. A very optimistic market got put back in its place a bit by the Fed, and the errant missile strike in Po...

 Well that was a great week! We finally got the election behind us (except for those of you in Georgia…). And we got a tremendous report on inflation on Thursday. The result was a swell in optimism in the market. That is undoubtedly good news, but is it possible the market is getting out ahead of itself (and the Fed)? Read more here:  https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-patience-is-k...

Fed Chairman Powell freaked everyone out again with his remarks after the Fed’s interest rate decision last week. But was it really as bad as some were saying? Or was it just more of the same as we continue to wait for better jobs data and lower CPI reads (coming Thursday)? Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-the-dance-continues/

Happy Halloween! We hope you’re celebrating in an appropriately spooky way. But we also hope that things don’t get too spooky in the markets this week – and that all depends on the Fed meeting Wednesday. We know (we think) they’re going to raise rates by 0.75%. But can their forward guidance give the market confidence to continue our current rally? Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/th...