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Santa Claus Already Came to Town – Prospects Dim for a Year End Rally
It has been a fantastic year in the stock market! The S&P 500 is up 16% Year to date, bolstered once again this week by the Federal Reserve’s 0.25% interest rate cut. Earnings are strong, economic data is generally good, and inflation is running below expectations. The good news keeps coming – which is what has us worried. Market Sentiment This week market sentiment, as measured by the Investor’s Intelligence Bull/Bear Ratio, a measure of investors who expect the stock mark
Steve Coker, CFP
Nov 22 min read
What do lower interest rates do to the economy? How the Economic Machine Works
The Federal Reserve is in a cycle of lowering interest rates, but what does that mean and how does that impact the economy? In last...
Steve Coker, CFP
Oct 42 min read
Investing Basics: What does it mean when the Federal Reserve Lowers Interest Rates
On September 17 th , 2025, the Federal Reserve announced the highly anticipated 0.25% drop in the Fed Funds rate. But what does it mean...
Steve Coker, CFP
Sep 272 min read
Lower Rates Accelerate Rally
The Federal Reserve acted as expected this week, lowering the target Fed Funds rate by 0.25% to 4.25%. The Fed also signaled that two...
Steve Coker, CFP
Sep 192 min read
Stocks and Bonds Rally on Potential Lower Rates
Stocks and bonds and gold all rallied on Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, in statement at the annual Jackson Hole...
Steve Coker, CFP
Aug 222 min read
Why Gold?
During May we made the decision to add gold, purchased through an exchange traded fund, to many of our portfolios. Let us be clear, we...
Steve Coker, CFP
Jun 133 min read
The China Problem
This week Trump accused China of “totally violating” a recent trade agreement, raising trade tensions between the two countries once...
Steve Coker, CFP
May 313 min read
Trade Deals Ease Recession Fears
Recession fears continued to fade this week as the Trump administration announced a flurry of trade deals with key trading partners. The...
Steve Coker, CFP
May 152 min read
Tariff Turmoil Continues
The S&P 500 dropped 6.1%, the Dow tumbled 2,262 points, and the Nasdaq sank 6% on Friday, hitting their lowest levels since last May of...
Steve Coker, CFP
Apr 52 min read
Tariff Turmoil
Over the last few weeks markets have been whipsawed by tariffs. In February Trump announced 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico,...
Steve Coker, CFP
Mar 142 min read
Growth Scare
The stock market sold off this week, posting its worst week since September 2024. The drop was triggered by several economic indicators...
Steve Coker, CFP
Feb 282 min read
2025 Outlook
Forecasting is always a dangerous business. Look at 2023 and 2024, when many economists were predicting a major recession and stock...
Steve Coker, CFP
Jan 34 min read
Trump 2.0: Bearish or Bullish?
Thus far the market has hardily approved of President Trump 2.0. The S&P 500 sat at 5712 on November 4th, just before the election. One...
Steve Coker, CFP
Dec 7, 20243 min read
Consumers are in a bad mood
The stock market is setting record highs, the economy is showing surprising strength, unemployment is low, and yet US consumer sentiment...
Steve Coker, CFP
Oct 18, 20243 min read
The Fed Starts Lowering Rates
For the last two years the Federal Reserve has been on a cycle of raising the federal funds rate, also known as tightening fiscal policy,...
Steve Coker, CFP
Sep 20, 20242 min read
Think you may be laid-off from your job? Here are 9 things you should do now to prepare financially
Once again we have been hearing from our clients about corporate “reorganizations”. Facing a “reduction in force” in corporate America...
Steve Coker, CFP
Sep 13, 20244 min read
What is bothering the stock market?
Market volatility has increased over the past 3 weeks as the S&P 500 fell from a high of 5647 on July 16th to a low of 5189, a drop of...
Steve Coker, CFP
Aug 9, 20242 min read
Does the National Debt Matter?
As of this writing, according to US Debt Clock (usdebtclock.org) the US National Debt has ballooned to $34 Trillion dollars, equal to...
Steve Coker, CFP
Jul 26, 20243 min read
Market Rotation
June's consumer price index, released on July 11th, showed a surprising drop in inflation levels to 3%, down from the previous month’s...
Steve Coker, CFP
Jul 19, 20241 min read
Inflation Update
We have said for many months now that inflation is the most important economic factor to watch in 2024. This week we had good news on the...
Steve Coker, CFP
Jun 28, 20241 min read
