George Hosfield, CFA, discusses Ferguson Wellman's quarterly strategy titled, "Inflation's Flame Flickers," which addresses the narrow market leadership, the impact of higher interest rates on inflation and how assets are priced at this stage of the economic cycle.
George Hosfield, CFA, discusses the firm's quarterly strategy titled "Stalemate," which highlights the Fed's ongoing battle to tame inflation along with our views on the health of the banking industry and capital market expectations for the balance of the year.
Director and Chief Investment Officer George Hosfield, CFA, discusses the Fed raising interest rates, peaking inflation and our view on equities and volatility across all asset classes in our Investment Strategy titled, “Balancing Act.”
Two weeks into the new year, one might not be surprised to see the market as measured by the S&P 500 Index up less than half a percent. Following an unprecedented 2020, a more pedestrian start to the year – first week up, second week down – is perhaps just what investors need after a 2020 rollercoaster.
Today’s Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report spotlighted the difference between Wall Street and Main Street. The net loss of 140,000 jobs in December, driven by the loss of 372,000 restaurants and bar workers, was balanced by the increasing employment in other sectors of the economy, notably the manufacturing sector. These sectors continue to heal from the wrenching effects of the pandemic that took hold in last year’s first quarter.
Our Wealth Management Insights publication for the first quarter of 2021 is titled, “Planning for the Future.”
2020 will be a year many Americans will want to forget, and rightfully so. Record unemployment, tragic loss of human life and people trapped at home with no where to go. No doubt, there is good news and bad news on the horizon.
As we move through the holiday season and collectively reflect on what has been an incredibly challenging year, we stay firm in our belief that the holidays are all about giving thanks, being grateful, staying humble and wishing for the best.
We are beginning to see the end of the pandemic as U.S. vaccine distribution begins this week. In addition, our research partner, Evercore ISI Research, is projecting that 100 million people will be vaccinated by end of the first quarter. Along with this victory comes predictions for the unfolding outcome for post-pandemic commercial real estate. The big debate centers around the persistence of the “work from home” trend permanently impacting demand for office space.
This week, “all the world’s a stage,” especially for William Shakespeare, the second person to be inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine in the UK. In the U.S., an outside panel of independent experts recommended Pfizer’s vaccine approval for emergency authorization. And as indicated this morning, FDA emergency use authorization approval should come shortly.
The blight of COVID-19 resulted in unfortunate milestones this week – record hospitalizations, ICU stays and most sobering, a single-day high in fatalities from the infection here in the U.S.
It has been a wild ride of politics, pandemics, and social unrest. As 2020 draws to a close, it’s time to review some typical year-end wealth planning reminders as well as ones that are unique to this year.
2020 has been such a challenging year for so many, so on this Thanksgiving weekend we offer our thanks to all the healthcare workers who have provided comfort to so many amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. We are also thankful for all the researchers and volunteers who appear to have us at the doorstep of widely available vaccines with the corresponding hope for a return to normalcy. True to form, financial markets have already begun anticipating what a post-vaccine world will look like and asset prices have responded accordingly.
On November 20, we hosted a post-election discussion with Dan Clifton, head of policy research at Strategas Securities.
The stock market is a discounting mechanism. What does that mean? It means the value today is explained by the economy in the future and ultimately long-term earnings.
Scott Christianson, CFP®, executive vice president, and his wife, Lauren, were recently featured in Portland Monthly Magazine’s Portland Pages for the Donate Dinner fundraiser on behalf of Meals on Wheels People in collaboration with New Seasons.
There are several planning opportunities for charitable giving with the remaining days in 2020 which can also be tax-savvy moves.
On the back of the strongest election week returns since 1932, markets rallied sharply to begin this week as Pfizer announced 90 percent efficacy on a COVID-19 vaccine. Even more, the industries performing best were those most sensitive to economic momentum, instead of the “stay-at-home” trade that has dominated the market for the majority of the year with Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google accounting for around 80 percent of the S&P 500 return.
Assumed to be postulated by Aristotle, “horror vacui” roughly translates to “nature abhors a vacuum.” The financial market equivalent would be “horror incertae,” or “markets abhor uncertainty.”
We have been closely monitoring the recent uptick in COVID-19 infections across the country and in Europe. The path of the virus is the most important factor in the economic recovery and the thing that we know the least about.
