The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus arrived in the US last week, first identified in California. As employers experienced with the earlier Delta variant, this new strain of the coronavirus could cause employees to back away from “work-in-person” jobs,…
The White House announced its plan to release 50 million barrels of crude oil from its underground reserve (aka the “Strategic Petroleum Reserve”) between late December through April 2022. The proposal, done in concert with similar action from 5 other…
House Democrats waited for the numbers compiled by the Congressional Budget Office and they were satisfied with the final report. The “Build Back Better” Act is projected to spend $2.43 trillion over the next decade (2022-2031), offset by $2.27 trillion…
For all the belt tightening that Americans implemented 10 years ago when the global real estate market crashed, today's consumer is not letting a lack of cash flow get in the way of buying what he/she wants. Total American household…
President Donald Trump announced plans last Thursday (3/01/18) to impose tariffs of 25% on steel imports and tariffs of 10% on aluminum imports for an undefined period. The order, described by the White House as necessary action to protect the…
Volatility Returns to Markets We often remind our clients, "Don't mention return without mentioning risk in the same sentence." Risk and return are linked components of equity markets and typically shouldn't be singled out. However, we have recently experienced an…
We are experiencing a "Trump Rally" on Wall Street. The S&P 500 is up +3.6% (total return) in the 2 ½ weeks since the 11/08/16 political upset, but even more impressive was the 4 new all-time closing highs set last…
The 246,000 Americans that filed for first-time unemployment benefits for the week ending 10/08/16 were the fewest to do so in any week since 11/24/73 or 43 years ago. During the 2009 global real estate crisis, first-time weekly unemployment claims…
