International stocks have strongly underperformed U.S. stocks this year. Such a large gap may lead many to questioning the value of owning stocks outside the U.S. As part of our investment approach, we see the inclusion of international equities as a natural extension of the diversification we pursue in all our portfolio exposures. Indeed, we […]

For the second time this year, the S&P 500 Index has experienced a near 10% dive from its short-term peak. As those short-term peaks were also all-time peaks, the plunges have generated an extra amount of drama in regard to their meanings. A range of obvious pressures remain: healthy-at-the-present but unknown future macroeconomic performance against […]

Thinking about the past three months, the word divergence comes to mind. Within equities, U.S. stocks continued to pull away from global peers as the U.S. economy furthered similar feats of distinction. Beginning later in the quarter and hastening in the current one, the domestic bond market sank anew, representing for many a departure from […]

A fact of investing, bond prices generally fall as interest rates rise. This happens as holders of existing bonds sporting lower yields (which is the coupon paid divided by the price of the bond) sell them in favor of newly issued bonds carrying now higher going-forward yields. As the prices of older bonds fall, their […]

Lots of folks talking about how long-in-the-tooth is this bull market. Some conclude the end is near. Others see room to run. Regular readers hopefully can guess what we think. Regardless how one determines bull markets, neither its eventual length, nor the length and depth of the drawdown that succeeds it are determinable in advance. […]

Fairly common to hear folks gabbing about how great a stock they own has performed. Common, too, having missed out on the run to the peak, the schadenfreude of those who avoided the downfall of former big winners. A recent example, we all might like to have seen our individual portfolios achieve gains like the […]