Rockbridge Institutional – September 2024 Market Review
Stocks The September quarter was good for stocks. While there was a brief bout of indiscriminate selling at the beginning of the month, this was quickly turned around by the enthusiasm for the ½% drop in the Federal Funds rate. This quarter’s returns ranged from 5% for domestic large cap stocks (S&P 500) to 9% […]
Rockbridge Institutional – August 2024 Market Review
Market Review Stocks In August, a globally diversified portfolio fell 5.6% in the first five days only to snap back to earning nearly 2% by month end. Domestic small cap stocks (Russell 2000) were down 1% in the month, giving back much of their July results. Other stock indices, however, ended up between 2% and […]
Rockbridge Institutional – July 2024 Market Review
Market Review Stocks After being up 16% last quarter, the half-dozen Tech stocks that are expected to benefit from AI (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia) gave back 4% in July. These six stocks are about 27% of the S&P 500 and explain its subdued (1.2%) return in July. While the impact of AI […]
Rockbridge Institutional – June 2024 Market Review
Market Review Stocks Returns of stock market indices over the last quarter were mixed. The S&P 500 Index was up above 4%. Stocks traded in Emerging Markets also turned in a good quarter, MSCI Index was up 5%. Domestic small cap stocks (Russell 2000 Index), on the other hand, were up over 3%. Stocks traded in […]
Rockbridge Institutional – May 2024 Market Review
Uncertainty Today Markets continue to be bullish on the future of AI. Nvidia, considered by some analysts to be a bellwether for the industry, turned in another blockbuster quarter with earnings up 21% and revenues up 18% over the previous quarter. It returned an eye-popping 295% over the past year. Yet, while profound, AI’s future […]
Rockbridge Institutional – April 2024 Market Review
Inflation Redux Renewed uncertainty about the future path of inflation is driving both stock and bond markets. After peaking at about 9% in March 2022, inflation as measured by the trailing 12 months, change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), had been falling steadily to 2.4% in September 2023. However, since then it has been […]
Rockbridge Institutional – March 2024 Market Review
Nvidia: A Bubble or Rational Exuberance Clearly, the stock market is positive on the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The trajectory of Nvidia, a company engaged in the production of products for the industry, is especially a case in point. Its stock price has nearly doubled since the first of the year – up 220% […]
Rockbridge Institutional – February 2024 Market Review
The Path of Future Interest Rates The future path of interest rates is high on the list of what worries markets today. We can gain some insight by anticipating the Fed’s response to changes in the economic landscape and by looking at the pattern of yields on bonds across various maturities. The Fed has the […]
Rockbridge Institutional – January 2024 Market Review
The Price Earnings (P/E) Ratio The P/E ratio is used by analysts to establish a company’s expected value. Multiplying either reported or projected earnings by this ratio gives an indication of this value. It provides a perspective on current stock prices. The PE ratio is the price per share divided by earnings per share. It […]
Rockbridge Institutional – December 2023 Market Review
Year in Review After plenty of ups and downs throughout the year, financial markets turned in reasonable results in 2023 – a globally diversified stock portfolio was up 16%, a reasonable proxy for bonds (Barclays Aggregated Bond Index) returned 6%. News on several fronts helps to explain this year’s results: Interest Rates, Inflation and Prospects […]
