Market Conditions

Articles and resources related to Market Conditions.

Market Valuations—A Historical Perspective

James Michael Yaworski, CFA
Senior Investment Strategist
Published March 20, 2020

As investors, every single one of us is prone to a range of emotions during periods of market volatility: fear, anxiety, optimism, greed, regret, and more. We’re not alone in this experience; there are millions of investors going through these same emotions with us each and every day. The incredible reality of the market is that no one precisely knows what the future holds, when the stock market will bottom out, or what the ultimate economic and human impact will be of the COVID-19 ... [Continue Reading]

How is the Fed Dealing with the Coronavirus Crisis?

Posted on March 19, 2020

As markets wait to hear the details of an upcoming Federal Government stimulus bill, the Federal Reserve has been regularly announcing steps it is taking to ensure market liquidity. A recent piece from the Council on Foreign Relations describes the various steps that have been taken, as well as further steps that the Federal Reserve can take if necessary. ... [Continue Reading]

Vanguard’s Market Perspectives

Posted on March 5, 2020

The market is digesting a large volume of new information, spanning from coronavirus and continuing trade war negotiations to a second inversion of the yield curve and, of course, an upcoming presidential election. Vanguard’s recent "Market Perspectives" touches on a number of these issues. While each issue is important for investors to be aware of, it's also important to remember that the market is constantly incorporating new information into stock prices, as well as expectations for ... [Continue Reading]

Revisiting the 2019 Yield Curve Inversion

Posted on January 9, 2020

Our recommended reading today is a throwback to March 27, 2019, when we published Why We Won’t Panic Because the Yield Curve Inverted (And Neither Should You). In that post, we shared a number of reasons why we advised against reading into a yield curve inversion too deeply. One reason we cited was that while a yield curve inversion had a strong track record of predicting recessions in the U.S. over the past 60 years, the evidence internationally was less convincing. Another reason ... [Continue Reading]

The Index Bogeyman

Adam Hoffmann, CFP^®, AIF^®
Chief Investment Officer
Published October 30, 2019

Index funds are receiving increased attention, mostly centered on the virtues of low-cost and broadly diversified vehicles for accessing stock and bond markets. In a competition in which one side’s success is another side’s loss, it’s not surprising to hear active managers railing against passive investing. Some claim that increased usage of index funds is distorting market prices. The Carlson Capital Management team firmly believes that markets continue to work and investors can still rely on ... [Continue Reading]