More than a few folks are worried that interest rates are on the rise. Leaving aside the fact that rising rates generally are a signal of an improving economy, the concern may be warranted given the fact that bond prices generally fall as interest rates rise. Here as in so many other facets of investments, […]

One of the several risk-oriented messages we hope has resonated with readers of our commentaries over the last year is that we have maintained a strong belief that the absence of volatility in equity markets did not in any way diminish the potential for volatility. Today’s turn of trend is a forceful reminder that markets […]

With the equity market plunge the talk of the trade over the first week in February, pundits offered a diversity of explanations as to why stock prices had turned so suddenly and a range of expectations for what’s to come. Though many pointed to the surge in interest rates as a reason for the downdraft […]

To call the past half-decade of domestic equity markets gains robust is assuredly an understatement, with such a strong and even-tempered march higher rare to uniqueness in history. The centers of investor attention, global central banks maintain steady and resolute control over modest shifts in monetary policy, while global macroeconomic dynamics remain firmly on the […]

Market peaks may seem particularly frightening. Like the crest of a roller coaster, they may incite panicked concern that the only course from here is down. Unlike roller coasters, though, such anxiety is unattached from observable truth. While we can see the coaster track, there is no rule in investing that determines future trajectories. Nonetheless, […]

As the year comes to a close, prognostications for 2018 already are filling up our inboxes. We hope to spare readers another choice of whom to believe. Any meaningfully specific views we might share are no more likely to come true than the various others we’ll read over the next few weeks. The question on […]