Market Commentary, June 9, 2025

Trade Deficit Cut in Half The US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that the US trade deficit fell a whopping 55% in April to $61.6 billion. In March, the grade gap stood at a record $138.3 billion. April exports rose $8.3 billion to a record $289.4 billion....

Market Commentary, June 2, 2025

From Wallets to Wall Street: Why We Hate Inflation Why is inflation widely unpopular among the public? Inflation erodes the value of money. Inflation introduces uncertainty about future prices, making it harder for households to plan budgets, save for long-term goals,...

Market Commentary, May 27, 2025

US Exceptionalism Discussions of U.S. exceptionalism in the stock market stem from the consistent outperformance of major U.S. indexes compared to global markets. For example, over the past decade, the Global Dow is up about 103%, while the S&P 500 Index has risen...

Market Commentary, May 19, 2025

Debbie Downer On Friday, the University of Michigan reported that the Consumer Sentiment Index for the U.S. fell to the second-lowest reading on record, with the mid-May level falling to 50.8 from April’s 52.2. “Tariffs were spontaneously mentioned by nearly...

Market Commentary, May 12, 2025

Team Wait and See Virtually no one was surprised when the Federal Reserve kept its key lending rate, the fed funds rate, at 4.25 – 4.50% last week. Fed officials had widely telegraphed that there would be no change in the fed funds rate. Hence, the decision had no...