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.”
In a 1981 interview, a skeptical Todd Koeppel questioned 26-year-old Steve Jobs about the dangers of using computers and whether they would eventually be able to control humans (aside from current social media addiction, not yet). Jobs proceeded to explain that the personal computer is the “bicycle of the 21st century” and referred to a study that measured the locomotion efficiency of various species.
As the first quarter of 2023 wrapped up this week, investors may be surprised to see both stocks and bonds with positive returns, given the ongoing stress within the banking industry and the signs that the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes are creating cracks within the economy.
The Federal Reserve's quarter-point rate hike fuels more recession speculation. Blaine Dickason, senior vice president, appeared on Sunrise on KGW News on Friday, March 21 and shared our perspective on what the rate increase may mean for you.
This week all eyes were on the Federal Reserve and Fed Chairman Powell as they had the challenge of continuing to fight inflation.
On December 29, 2022, Congress signed a piece of legislation called SECURE Act 2.0 of 2022. Compared to the SECURE Act 1.0 that was enacted in December of 2019, which contained 29 provisions and total government spending of $15 billion, the SECURE Act 2.0 contains 92 provisions and $1.7 trillion in spending. Both pieces of legislation were designed to promote retirement security, including attempts to lower barriers to entry for people looking to save, expand access to participation in employer retirement plans and allow for greater flexibility for Americans experiencing hardship.
One year ago this week, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since the pandemic began. After two years of holding rates near zero, this first hike to combat rising inflation only raised the policy rate by a mere 0.25%.
Our colleague, Casia Chappell, CFP®, CPWA®, recently wrote a piece for the Spokane Journal of Business. In it, she discusses how donor-advised funds can help streamline strategic giving.
That a notable Silicon Valley bank failure could overshadow significant developments in the labor market is a testament to how attuned investors remain to the unpredictable consequences of the Fed’s ongoing campaign to raise interest rates.
To both economists and investors, one of the biggest surprises to begin 2023 has been the resilience of the economy, and in particular the labor market. Coming off the back of the most rapid Federal Reserve tightening cycle in decades, many assumed that economic data would prove recessionary as soon as the calendar flipped. While leading indicators still point to a slowing in the economy ahead, recession still seems a ways away.
We are expecting inflation to cool as we move throughout 2023, but we also know that it won’t move in a straight line. The Fed’s favored inflation index is called the personal consumer expenditures index (PCE).
This week, a slew of economic reports, which included inflation data, employment figures and retail sales reports, continue to indicate that the Fed still has a way to go on its quest to tame inflation.
President Biden held his State of the Union Address this week, and while there was a laundry list of proposals, the two that we believe are on investors’ minds are the debt ceiling and the Medicare drug price negotiation.
There are a myriad of important numbers related to personal financial and tax planning that change every year. To help ensure you are up to date with all and to hopefully simplify your individual financial planning efforts for the year ahead, we are sharing the 2023 Annual Limits Guide from the College for Financial Planning®, which outlines many of the most important numbers that may apply to you.
While we continue to see a daily deluge of headlines highlighting layoffs in the tech space, the rest of U.S. labor market appears fairly resilient. This morning, the Department of Labor released the monthly jobs report and what was quite unexpected was the gain of over 500,000 new jobs. This brought the unemployment rate down to 3.4%, the lowest since May of 1969.
In this video, Mary Lago, CFP®, CTFA, chair of our wealth management department, highlights changes for retirement savings and charitable gifting in regard to tax planning.
It is no surprise that all eyes are focused on the economic headlines – investors and consumers are searching for tangible pieces of information to guide decision-making and create a logical roadmap for 2023. You don’t need to look far to see the latest news plastered across the media: corporate layoffs.
On December 23, 2022, Congress passed the SECURE Act 2.0. This new legislation builds off its predecessor to further improve the U.S. retirement system. Included in the provisions are changes to required minimum distributions (RMDs). Most notably, the new law further pushes back the age at which RMDs must begin.
Bonds made headlines last year for all the wrong reasons. Spurred by dramatic interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve, the U.S. bond market posted its worst annual performance in modern history. As a result of last year’s sell-off in bonds, bond yields have reset to higher levels not seen in over a decade.
Wealth Management Insights publication for first quarter 2023 titled, “Planning for Incremental and Potentially Substantial Changes.”
Annual presentation from Ferguson Wellman investment team discussing the major themes facing capital markets in 2023 and how they will affect client portfolios.
