On Unemployment
The jobs report released last Friday contained unexpectedly bad news. Normally a gain of 266,000 jobs would be a strong month...
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May 12 -
May 3A Quick Inflation Update
Here’s the current 10-year breakeven inflation rate, which reflects market expectations of the average inflation rate over the next 10 years.
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Apr 19Weekly Market Commentary
Where are Treasury bonds going? The direction of bond yields is influenced by investors’ expectations for economic growth, among other factors.
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Apr 12
Weekly Market Commentary
Investors didn’t stumble over inflation last week. Why not? Inflation – rising prices of goods and services – can be measured in a variety of ways.
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Apr 12Is Step-Up in Basis Reform on the Horizon?
The Biden Administration is seeking to enact a $2 trillion infrastructure plan, which then raises the question of how to finance this government spending.
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Apr 5March Job Recovery
The market’s recovery over the past year can be attributed in part to expectations that COVID would be largely suppressed and that the economy could then regain ...
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Apr 5
Weekly Market Commentary
Zoom, zoom, zoom. Big economies tend to recover from recessions about as quickly as semi-trucks accelerate from stop lights.
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Mar 29A Quick Fed Update
In recent years the Fed’s communication style has become increasingly direct...
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Mar 29
Weekly Market Commentary
Last week, unemployment claims were looking good and consumers were feeling good...
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Mar 23The Potential of a Roaring Twenties
Last week we discussed optimistic economic growth forecasts for 2021, highlighted by a Goldman Sachs projection of 8% growth...
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Mar 22
Weekly Market Commentary
What are professional asset managers thinking? Bank of America recently published the results of its March global asset managers’ survey...
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Mar 17Economy Is Ready To Take Off
3,2,1 Takeoff! We may still be cooped up far more than we want to be, but if Goldman Sachs is right, the economy is ready to take off. As ...
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Mar 8What’s in the $1.9 Trillion COVID relief bill?
This weekend the Senate passed a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. The House is expected to approve the bill later this week and send it on to President Biden ...
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Mar 1
Weekly Market Commentary
Students of financial markets may have noted a historically unusual event last week.
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Mar 1Inflation and Interest Rates
After the yield curve flattened in 2020, with the US 10 year rate falling to under 0.6% and the 30 year rate briefly slipping to under 1%, we’ve started to see significant ...
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Feb 22
Weekly Market Commentary
It’s a contrarian’s dream come true. Contrarian investors like to buck the trend.
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Feb 22It’s Not Your Father’s Fed
The Fed has long been known as a chief fighter of inflation, ever since Paul Volcker in the 1980s hiked interest rates sharply in an effort to bring ...
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Feb 15
Weekly Market Commentary
Way back, when radio disk jockeys played 45-rpm vinyl singles, the A-side of a disk was the song the record company was promoting and the other side.
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Feb 15Diversifying with Emerging Markets
The stunning recovery of US and global markets has been generally excellent for portfolios, but leaves a challenge going forward...
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Feb 8
Weekly Market Commentary
It’s not a black diamond ski run yet, but the yield curve for U.S. Treasuries is steeper than it has been in a while.
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Feb 8Selling Short Selling Short
The Gamestop short squeeze has prompted discussion of short selling, in which an investor who believes a stock is overvalued borrows shares of that stock...
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Feb 1
Weekly Market Commentary
They say people watching the same event often see different things.
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Feb 1What’s Up with GameStop?
If a group of Redditors dislike hedge funds, dislike the idea of shorting a gaming company that has sentimental value for many...
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Jan 25A Few Perspectives on Debt
The Biden Administration has proposed an additional $1.9 trillion in spending on a COVID relief package, and unsurprisingly, many Republicans ...
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Jan 25
Weekly Market Commentary
Last week, as COVID-19 vaccination efforts continued, there was speculation about stock market corrections and asset bubbles.
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Jan 19
Weekly Market Commentary
Investors were rocked by economic data showing the economy hit the brakes hard in December.
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Jan 18A Bit on Bitcoin
Bitcoin has been in the news quite a bit lately, both for its meteoric rise and its sharp selloffs.
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Jan 11Fallout from the Georgia Senate Runoffs
The November 3rd election appeared to be a mixed bag for the Democratic Party.
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Jan 4
Weekly Market Commentary
Last week was the cherry on top of a turbulent year for investors.
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Dec 28On Forecasting and the End of 2020
We were going to close out what’s been a very interesting 2020 by discussing 2021 capital market forecasts.
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Dec 21Congress Comes Through
We don’t expect to see much in the way of bipartisan legislation in the coming years, but perhaps Democrats and Republicans were imbued with the holiday spirit
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Dec 7Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary
Joe Biden is expected to nominate Janet Yellen for Treasury Secretary for his administration...
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Nov 30Thankfully, Malthus was Wrong
For many of us, Thanksgiving in 2020 was a more subdued affair, as rising caseloads of COVID-19...
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Nov 23Potential Economic Recovery in 2021
The last time the United States elected a new president during a crisis, in 2008, the recovery was a painful and protracted one.
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Nov 17A COVID Vaccine… Great for the world, but merely good for the shareholders?
News broke a little over a week ago that preliminary results for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine showed that the vaccine reduced symptomatic cases by 90%...
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Oct 62020 Election Preview
Despite all the turmoil in the world, led by COVID‐19, the US Presidential Election horserace has had a very consistent result for months: Joe Biden is clearly leading, ...
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Jul 15Tips For Home Refinancing
As mortgage rates hit a record low, many Americans are considering refinancing their homes.
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Jun 15What to Do During A Recession to Maintain Your Financial Sanity
In a recession, there are a lot of forces out of your control, including job loss and loss of income. Experts recommend doing the following during a recession ...
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Jun 10The U.S. Stock Market
The U.S. stock market lost 34% in February and March, as the coronavirus pandemic’s effects hit the economy. While the market has recovered nearly all of its ...
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May 30Financial Strain on The Families of College Students Worsen
As the financial strain on the families of college students worsen due to the coronavirus, several colleges and universities have announced that they will freeze tuition for the ...
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May 16Debating the Economy’s Recovery
Economists are debating what the economy’s recovery from the current recession will look like using letters of the alphabet. On a chart, the gross domestic product could ...
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May 6The Fed In Action
As difficult as the coronavirus crisis has been, both in terms of the cost of human life and comatose economies, we are taking a moment to note that ...
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Apr 25News for Beneficiaries of Inherited IRAs and 401(k)s
The new Coronavirus Relief law says that beneficiaries of inherited IRAs and 401(k)s do not have to take mandatory withdrawals in 2020.
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Apr 15Coronavirus and Stock Market Volatility
While the coronavirus has been blamed for much of the recent stock market volatility, there are other factors too.
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Apr 8IRS Tax Filing and Payment Updates
We would like to provide a quick reminder that the IRS has extended tax filing and payment deadlines from April 15th to July 15th. The IRS has provided ...
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Apr 1Severe Coronavirus Outbreak Could Cost U.S. Health Insurers $90 Billion
S&P Global Analysts estimate that a severe coronavirus outbreak could cost US health insurers $90 billion in medical expenses, leading to losses for those insurers.
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Mar 27401(k) Decisions in a Market Downturn
You shouldn’t make a withdrawal from your 401(k) or make rash decisions about your allocations during this economic downturn. However, you should check that your asset ...
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Dec 31Four Pressing Questions
Volatility has been on the rise in financial markets this year, and December seems to be unfolding as potentially the worst month of 2018 for stock market volatility.
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Dec 4U.S. – China Trade War Update
The recurring drama of U.S.-China trade relations reached a temporary truce this weekend, albeit with the promise of additional acts to come in jU.S.t ...
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Oct 10Quarterly Market Commentary-October
Third Quarter 2018 Key Takeaways Larger-cap US stocks hit new highs in late September and gained 7.7% for the quarter, while smaller-cap US stocks gained 3.6%. S&P 500 operating earnings ...
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Oct 3Women and the Retirement Crisis
Here’s a number that will knock your socks off: $400 trillion.1 By 2050, the retirement savings shortfall in eight of the world’s largest economies is expected to reach $400 ...
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Aug 16Private Equity Investing Considerations
Investor demand for private investments continues to grow. According to Preqin, a global leader in alternative assets data, 921 private equity funds that closed during 2017 raised a total of $453 ...
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Jul 13Quarterly Market Commentary
Second Quarter 2018 Key Takeaways US stocks rose to the top of asset class performance charts with solid returns in the second quarter. Larger-cap US stocks gained 3.4%, but were ...
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Apr 12Quarterly Market Commentary
First Quarter 2018 Key Takeaways Volatility returned to the financial markets in the first quarter, for the first time in a while. Stocks surged out of the gates in ...
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Mar 23Could we win a trade war?
When President Trump announced he would be placing tariffs on steel and aluminum for national security purposes, there was great dismay among many economists. In terms of protecting ...
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Feb 1Generating Retirement Income
Here’s a million dollar question: How will you transform your savings into income that will last throughout your retirement?1 There are probably as many answers to that ...
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Dec 21Tax Bill & Charitable Donations - Act Now!
The Republican tax legislation has just passed. The bill makes sweeping changes to the US tax code, beginning on January 1, 2018. This very brief period before implementation means that ...
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Oct 19College is Coming - Have You Started Saving Yet?
How times change! In 1940, half of Americans finished their education in eighth grade. College degrees were relatively rare. Just 6 percent of men and 4 percent of women had one. 1 ...
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Aug 9To Retire With Confidence, Have a Plan
If you want to retire with confidence, have a plan. “As you near retirement age or even within a decade or so, it is time to ...
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Aug 2Why is the Federal Reserve so Controversial?
The world’s first central bank offered unprecedented convenience. It gave 17th century Swedes the option to pay with paper notes rather than 40-pound copper plates, which were ...
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Jul 27Stock Buybacks
How Do You Make Money in Stocks? Have you ever watched Family Feud? Perhaps you were a child when Richard Dawson hosted the game show or maybe ...
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Jun 26The Basics of Tax Loss Harvesting
You may have heard of tax loss harvesting. Some people harvest losses every year, while others do so only when they have taken significant capital gains or have ...
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Jun 12Managing Multiple Accounts - a Taxing Endeavor
At JMS Capital Group Wealth Services, many of our clients have multiple accounts. Our bulging file cabinets attest to this fact while making a mockery of the ...
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Jun 57 Reasons a Roth IRA May Be a Good Idea
With tax season in the rearview mirror, now is a good time to start thinking about how you can minimize future tax bills. Many people take advantage of ...
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May 23Medicare Premiums and Copayments
More than one‐half of working Americans know little or nothing about Medicare costs.1 Not knowing can be expensive. On average, people who haven’t ...
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Mar 27In an Era of Low Returns, Investors Need to Save More
It’s well documented that most Americans have not saved enough for retirement. Consequently, there have been considerable efforts made to persuade workers to maximize their participation ...
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Feb 7Investors Need to Understand Their Risk
Investors Need to Understand Their Risk Understanding your risk tolerance is complex, and the standard questionnaire provided by financial planners may not capture an accurate picture. ...
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Jan 18When Should You Claim Social Security?
Of all the questions our clients face, this is certainly one of the most perplexing. Timing when to claim social security benefits has a significant and permanent ...
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