Q2 2024 Review: Markets Keep Dancing to 2023’s Hits, Rotation May Be Brewing

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

Friendship Presbyterian Church is Moving its Mission Forward Through Community Building

Expansive. Inclusive. Collaborative. Creative. Transformative. Those are just a few of the values Chicago-based Friendship Presbyterian Church (FPC) embodies through its ministry work. “Something that we say often — what I understand was a phrase that first originated in the disability rights community — is, ‘Nothing for us without us,’” said FPC Pastor, the Rev. … Continued

Market Turbulence Picks Up as Higher-for-Longer Narrative Takes Hold

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

Q1 2024 Review: Great Quarter for Stocks, But Rain Clouds Are Forming

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

Arlington PC: A Small Congregation Paving a New Way

Community and connection. Those two words encapsulate the vision of Arlington Presbyterian Church (APC), a small congregation of about 55 in one of most racially and ethnically diverse ZIP codes in the Greater Washington, D.C., region — and also one of the most economically challenged. The church is located in 3,000 square feet on the … Continued