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The Markets The stock market rally continued. April ended with the Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) and Nasdaq Composite Indexes at record-high levels, having delivered their best monthly returns since 2020, reported Connor Smith of Barron’s. In April, investors: Leaned into optimism, remaining hopeful for progress in the Middle East. Paul R. LaMonica of Barron’s reported, “Markets are looking beyond the Iran war to a year of healthy profits and stock gains. Investors in our latest Big Money poll share that sentiment. Despite the Middle East conflict and other hurdles facing the economy, more than 54 [percent] of [...]

The Markets It’s all about how you slice the index pie. Last week, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) closed at a new record high even though 329 of its 500 stocks lost value, reported Connor Smith of Barron’s. How is that possible? The S&P 500 is a capitalization-weighted index. Imagine the S&P 500 as a pie. Each stock in the index is one slice of that pie, and all of the slices are different sizes. The size of each company’s slice is determined by its market capitalization. (Market capitalization is a stock’s share price times the [...]

The Markets The market completes a 180. One of the most exciting driving sequences in movies may be the scene from Baby Driver when “Baby” (a reluctant getaway driver) slings a red Subaru into a narrow 180-degree turn, slides backward between obstacles, and immediately pivots into another 180-degree turn, all while perfectly in sync with the beat of his music. Since mid-February, the U.S. stock market has offered a similarly exciting ride. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) was closing in on a record high level (7,000) in late February. Then the U.S. military conflict with Iran [...]

The Markets Sunny with a chance of rain. Last week, news of a two-week pause in the Middle East conflict was like a sunny day. Investors celebrated and the relief rally lifted U.S. stocks higher. “The cease-fire announced on Tuesday led to the best day for the stock market in almost exactly a year,” reported Avi Salzman of Barron’s. On Friday, though, some clouds appeared on the horizon. U.S. economic data and Middle East damage assessments gave investors pause, and the market’s advance slowed as they considered the potential impact of: Rising inflation. The Consumer Price Index showed that [...]

The Markets The first three months of 2026 felt a bit like summer school. In summer school, students learn a lot in a short amount of time. A normal semester gives students about 15 to 17 weeks to learn, but summer classes cram all that information into 6 to 8 weeks. The lessons move quickly and it can be hard to keep up. That’s what the markets felt like in the first quarter of the year. Investors had to take in a lot of new information very quickly to keep up with economic data, interest rate changes, and global [...]

The Markets U.S. stocks moved lower last week. The journey toward long-term financial goals is often interrupted by unexpected events that create stress and uncertainty. That’s one reason financial plans are built with a keen eye to risk tolerance. When disruptive events occur and financial markets lose value, even the most experienced investors have questions and concerns. Over the last few months, markets have traveled a particularly bumpy road. We’ve seen: Geopolitics create uncertainty. The United States government has been reshaping economic and geopolitical relationships with the rest of the world. Last week, the military conflict in Iran took [...]

The Markets Energy disruptions, rising prices, and a weak jobs report cloud the economic outlook. It would take a lot more space than we have here to discuss everything that happened last week and the many ways these events may affect financial markets and the economy. So, we are going to focus on energy, inflation, and employment. Energy: Strait to a standstill The Strait of Hormuz is in the news. As we learned during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), the narrow passage is a vulnerable point in the supply chain for oil. “The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow mouth [...]

The Markets Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new Industrial Revolution. Last week, market volatility reflected uncertainty about how artificial intelligence will reshape the economy. Early in the week, a report titled “The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis” alarmed investors by describing a hypothetical future where artificial intelligence tools greatly improve productivity, causing white-collar jobs to vanish, and unemployment to rise above 10 percent. Innovation and disruption is not new It’s likely that some types of employment will disappear as AI advances. However, AI is also expected to create new types of employment, just as previous disruptive innovation has done. Kenneth [...]

The Markets AI is reshaping the world – and markets are jittery. Last week, investor attitudes continued to shift. Instead of celebrating AI as a growth engine, they focused on its potential as a business disruptor. The catalyst for this change was the introduction of AI tools that automate tasks in legal services, coding, financial research, and freight shipping. The news generated a wave of stock selloffs, reported Jeran Wittenstein, Ryan Vlastelica, Phil Serafino, and Charles Riley of Bloomberg. Investors are concerned about “creative destruction”. It’s a theory developed by Joseph Schumpeter, who wrote that historically waves of innovation [...]

The Markets It was a busy, busy week. If you just looked at the weekly return for the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index, you might assume the United States stock market was relatively calm last week. It was not. A lot happened last week – and some news moved markets. Here’s a brief recap: The Federal Reserve (Fed) held the federal funds rate steady. The Fed’s decision was expected and had little effect on U.S. stock markets. Chair Jerome Powell confirmed ‘the economy is solid, although officials anticipate rates may move lower this year,” reported Christopher Rugaber of [...]