Contrast We celebrate and give thanks each year in November, but this November was a month riddled with somber events all over the world. Friday, November 13th was an especially dark day for those affected by the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris, and Europe as a whole continues to struggle to handle the inflow of […]
October is always a month of change. For those of us living in the Northern hemisphere, it’s when summer finally gives way to autumn. The colors change. The days get shorter and cooler. It becomes “football weather”. And for sports fans in the U.S., the final week of October is just about as good as […]
Both a lunar eclipse and a super-moon made for a dramatic celestial show on the evening of the final Sunday of September. A super-moon occurs when the moon’s orbit brings it closest to Earth, and a lunar eclipse leaves the moon with a rusty, reddish color. It’s interesting that only theories explain the creation of […]
Investors are looking for clarity in the face of multiple uncertainties—more uncertainties than most typical investors can bear. What’s going on with China? Exactly how strong is the U.S. economy? When will the Fed increase interest rates? And when will oil prices stop sliding? These are all tough questions to answer. We’ll start in the […]
Did you know that 2014 was the warmest year on record? Most of the U.S. enjoyed a cooler start for the summer this year, but right now it’s pretty hot for us in North Texas. Still, it’s probably not a bad time to go somewhere even cooler in these last few weeks of the summer, […]
The summer is usually a time to relax. School lets out, and you don’t have to deal with as much traffic. You might have already squeezed in a vacation or hosted a cookout or two, but the markets have not been so relaxed. Over the past three years both temperatures and blood pressures rose on […]
Spring has sprung across the U.S. and seems to have put some spring in the markets; with major stock markets across the globe enjoying positive returns for the month of April. On April 23rd, the NASDAQ finally crossed past its previous high from March of 2000. It was a welcomed improvement from the sideways environment […]
March Madness is in full swing with over 60 games having already been played. People all over the world fill out their brackets in hopes that they can predict the future, including the surprise upsets that turn an “also ran” bracket into a money winner. Those who filled out their brackets by working from the […]
A “deflate-gate” of sorts hit Wall Street during the final week of January. On Tuesday, January 27th, the U.S. Census Bureau reported durable goods orders, core capital goods orders, and inventories; and overall, the information disappointed. Durable goods were down -3.4%. Capital goods orders were down -0.6%. Inventories increased +0.5%. The following day, the Federal […]
Happy New Year! A new year offers us all the opportunity to look back and make some sense of the year behind us. In many ways, 2014 was a year dominated by headlines. Early in the year, a polar vortex swept across the U.S., and as a result, many expected slower economic growth. For the […]