Market commentary – april 2019
Stock Markets Stocks rebounded nicely. Tech stocks (FANGs – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) after leading the way down in last year’s fourth quarter (off 22%) led stocks back up (up 23%). A global stock portfolio earned about 12% this quarter and domestic stocks continued in the forefront. Looking past this quarter, non-domestic markets have fallen […]
Employment in the United States
Employment statistics are considered one of the best (if not the best) indicators of the health of our economy. Last Friday, August 2, the department of labor announced an unemployment rate of 3.7%, slightly higher than the 3.6% in April and May, but essentially the lowest it has been since a 3.5% reading in December […]
Market commentary – july 2019
Stocks for this quarter maintained the above-average trend in the year-to-date numbers. The primary market drivers are the Fed activities and the status of tariff discussions with China and Mexico. As the prospects for reduced interest rates and resolution of the tariff negotiations wax and wane, stocks move up and down. The graph below shows […]
New faces at Rockbridge
We’d like to welcome to the firm our newest investment advisor, Zach DeBottis, as well as our two summer interns, Joel Farella and Hari Nanthakumar. Zach joined Rockbridge in a new capacity this past June, having worked for Rockbridge as an intern intermittently throughout his senior year of college at SUNY Geneseo. While working as […]
SEC ruling on the broker-dealer standard of conduct
The financial crisis of 2008 put the financial services industry under significant scrutiny. While the biggest headline grabbers were overleveraged investment banks and practices around mortgage origination, retail investment services also underwent additional regulatory oversight. Specifically, Section 913 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act directed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) […]
Market commentary – april 2019
Stock Markets Stocks rebounded nicely. Tech stocks (FANGs – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) after leading the way down in last year’s fourth quarter (off 22%) led stocks back up (up 23%). A global stock portfolio earned about 12% this quarter and domestic stocks continued in the forefront. Looking past this quarter, non-domestic markets have fallen […]
New York State office of unclaimed funds
Over the summer, we had a client ask if there was a place to look for existing accounts or funds they or family members may have accumulated and forgotten about over the years. That sparked Julie’s memory of the New York State Office of Unclaimed Funds (https://ouf.osc.state.ny.us/ouf/?wicket-crypt=8AxvNk1VlCk). You may have noticed the Office puts a […]
2018 Market insights
2018 was a woeful year for investing. All major stock market indexes were down, bonds enjoyed a year-end rally to finish flat, and commodities such as gold and oil fell. Seeing all asset classes drop in unison is unusual and unlikely to continue. Stocks Stocks began the year on solid footing, but fortunes quickly changed […]
Quarterly market commentary – january 2019
Stock Markets December’s market reminds us that risk is real – even after the uptick at the end of the month, a global stock portfolio is down about 15% for the quarter and 12% for the year. Technology stocks (Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Netflix), which have been driving the market to new heights […]
Rockbridge’s guide to a “Bear Market”
Depending on the news you read, you may have come across headlines talking about bear markets and stock market corrections. The following is a guide to what they mean and how to put them in the context of history. The conventional definition of a bear market is a price drop in a stock market index […]
