We’d like to start this edition of the Capital Markets by thanking our readers and clients for another year of partnership and trust. Our prayer is for a blessed Advent season and Christmas for you and your families, communities and churches. As we look back on 2024, there are a number of historical events and … Continued

It’s been well-documented that markets crave certainty, and by early Wednesday morning following November’s election, traders were already pricing in a mostly certain outcome of Republican control of both the White House and Congress. As investors, this took off the table one of the markets’ known unknowns — who was going to win the 2024 … Continued

The S&P 500 notched another strong quarter in Q3, finishing September up over +20% so far for the year. The index has closed at a record high 47 times this year and is on track to make it the fifth year out of six with a +15% or more gain. While the S&P 500 finished … Continued

The S&P 500 had its best week of the year in the second week of September. The only problem was that the prior week had been the index’s worst week of the year. Markets have been moving in a “W” shape since mid-July, when the S&P 500 hit its last record high. A market with … Continued

Many investors perceive the “risk” in investing refers to only to the potential of markets going down, or of an investment losing money. In fact, investment risk is most often measured by variance, or volatility — by how wide the spectrum of potential outcomes is — both up and down. In markets, higher returns come … Continued

The S&P 500 ended the first half of 2024 up over +15%, in large part driven by the same familiar factors that have pushed the market higher by +24% in 2023, and now over +50% since October of 2022. Optimism surrounding softening inflation, falling interest rates and a productivity boom from artificial intelligence have been … Continued

As the S&P 500 surged to a +24% gain in 2023, much was made around the “Magnificent Seven” mega-cap tech stocks and how these seven companies accounted for nearly 90% of the indexes’ gain for the year. As the calendar turned to 2024, many expected limited upside to these companies, and to the market in … Continued

The S&P 500 fell more than -4% in April as markets grappled with significant changes to expectations around interest rate cuts in 2024, following a third disappointing inflation report in a row to start the year. These reports have shown inflations decline essentially flat lining since last fall, with markets gradually moving their rate cut … Continued

The S&P 500 gained over +10% in the first three months of 2024, extending a rally going back to October 2022, during which the index has now gained over +40%. Optimism around a resilient U.S. economy, declining inflation, and new technology innovations such as artificial intelligence have all helped drive the market higher through this … Continued

The S&P 500 gained another +5.2% in February, up over +8.5% in 2024 at the time of this writing and coming off a +24% return in 2023. While we are as happy as any investor to see the stock market has recovered from a miserable 2022 and is marching to new highs, as markets continue … Continued