Equity markets advanced in February after a rocky start to the year, with improving economic data buoying investor sentiment despite inflation fears returning to the headlines. The S&P 500, a benchmark for large cap US stocks, gained +2.8% on the month to move back...
Financial markets were mixed in January as a bout of volatility saw equities turn lower after a strong start to 2021. Much of this volatility can be attributed to the wild swings in GameStop and other heavily shorted stocks as a group of Reddit retail traders took...
In his 1973 book A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Princeton economics professor Burton Malkiel performed an experiment wherein he modeled the performance of a hypothetical stock by charting the results of a random coin flip. If the stock landed on heads, he would...
Financial markets proved as resilient as ever in 2020, surviving a global pandemic, worldwide economic shutdowns, and a volatile US presidential election to produce improbably high returns across the board.
Equity markets surged in November as investors turned their focus from a contentious election to optimism around the emerging COVID vaccines. The S&P 500 index advanced +11% in November and is up +14% heading into the last month of 2020. The +12% gain for the Dow...
As election “day” turns into election “week”, we still await official results of the Presidential race and several key Senate seats. At the time of this writing, it appears that Joe Biden will be our next President, with Republicans retaining control of the Senate....
While September produced the first monthly losses for equity indexes since March’s COVID-induced selloff, the third quarter was largely profitable for stocks. The S&P 500 index, which tracks the performance of the 500 largest US stocks, gained +8.9% in the third...
Equities logged their fifth consecutive monthly gain in August, with blue-chip US stocks continuing to lead global markets higher. The S&P 500 index, which tracks the performance of the 500 largest domestic stocks, advanced +7% on the month for a year-to-date (YTD)...
As election season starts to heat up, we’ve gotten a lot of questions about how the outcome of the presidential race will impact equity markets. First, we would point out that the research indicates “no persuasive relationship exists between the political party in...
Equity markets continued their recovery from the COVID-induced losses of the first quarter, with US stocks climbing back into positive territory for the year. The S&P 500 index, which tracks the performance of the 500 largest domestic stocks, gained +5.6% in the...
Equity markets staged a roaring comeback from the COVID-induced losses of Q1, with US stocks bouncing back to record their best quarterly return since 1998. The S&P 500 index, which tracks the performance of the 500 largest US stocks, gained +20.6% in the second...
Equity markets in April experienced their best monthly gains since 1987, as a swift rebound from the coronavirus-induced losses spoke to optimism amidst a rising tally of COVID-19 cases. The S&P 500, a widely followed barometer for US stock performance, gained...
It is remarkable the change that one quarter can bring. This time three months ago, the new coronavirus had not yet been identified in China, and now we’ve had over 826,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the time of this writing, resulting in over 40,000 deaths and...
In an effort to help clients and the general public to understand our investment methodology, this post is the second in a three-part deep dive into each of our firm’s Three Dials, which serve as the backbone of our proprietary portfolio construction model. The goal...
The Three Dials Deep Dive series is designed to help clients and the general public to understand our investment methodology. Over the past several months, we have been exploring each of our Firm’s Three Dials, which serve as the backbone of our proprietary...
As you may know, our firm uses a proprietary asset allocation model we call “The Three Dials”, wherein we look at three primary indicators in the markets and the overall economy that tend to determine the performance of financial assets.
In 2007, Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffet, who is widely considered to be one of history’s most successful investors, issued a challenge to Wall Street’s largest and most sophisticated money managers. He wagered that over the next ten years, a low-cost,...
Markets are off to a rocky start this week, as continued coronavirus fears combined with a global price war in the oil markets to send global stocks into negative territory. While the headlines remain alarming and these significant one-day drops in stock indexes can...
The new year got off to a somewhat rocky start, as the effects of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak continue to make their way through financial markets. As of this writing, there have been over twenty thousand confirmed cases and 426 deaths, with comparisons being...
Financial markets were strong across the board in 2019, as every major asset class bounced back from a rough 2018 to exhibit above-average returns. The S&P 500, one of the best barometers for US stock performance, recovered from a -4.4% loss in 2018 to gain +31.5%...
With one month remaining in 2019, financial markets are on track for robust annual gains across the board, rebounding from a lackluster 2018. Global equities advanced in November as the prolonged US-China trade negotiations continued to drive the market discourse....
Global markets advanced during October as optimism fueled by a third Fed rate cut and progressing US-China trade talks outpaced concerns over US manufacturing levels. The Russell 3000 Index, one of the broadest measures of US stock market performance, advanced +2.2%...
Despite a quarter filled with nervy headlines ranging from recession risks, political turmoil and global uncertainty, domestic equity markets managed to produce modest gains. The Russell 3000 Index, one of the broadest measures of US stock market performance,...
Equity markets declined in August as a rush of negative headlines led to a risk-off attitude for the month. Aside from the now commonplace hand-wringing over trade wars and other global geopolitical concerns, worries arose over the potential recession implications...
With all the buzz in the news on the “inverted yield curve”, we have put together a helpful primer on what this means for the economy and the stock market.
The month of July offered investors a little bit of everything, including new all-time highs for equity indexes and a month-end selloff inspired by the first rate cut from the Federal Reserve in over a decade. The S&P 500 gained +1.4% in July on its way to...
During the second quarter of 2019, equity markets churned out another solid performance, despite experiencing some inter-month volatility. The Russell 3000 Index, one of the broadest measures of domestic stock market performance, gained +4.1% during the quarter and...
Volatility returned to equity markets in May after four consecutive months of gains to start the year. The Russell 3000 Index, used to measure the broad performance of US stocks, declined -6.5% in May, though the index is still up +10.9% year-to-date. International...
Through the end of April, equity markets logged a fourth consecutive monthly gain to start the year, with major indexes recovering to levels last seen prior to the 2018 Q4 selloff. The Russell 3000 Index, used to measure the broad performance of US stocks, gained...
Financial markets seem to have emerged from a dark winter, with Q1 seeing strong rebounds in performance after last December’s steep sell-off. US stocks advanced +14.0% in Q1 as measured by the Russell 3000 index, recovering nearly all of its losses from the prior...
February saw a second consecutive monthly gain for equity markets to start the year, as stock prices continued to claw back losses from the fourth quarter of 2018. US markets rose +3.5% this month, marking a +12.4% gain year-to-date per the Russell 3000 index....
What a difference a month can make! Markets that ended 2018 with steep December declines reversed course to churn out robust gains during the month of January. The S&P 500, the most widely followed domestic equity index, turned a -9.0% December loss into a +8.0%...
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
This Christmas season, we hope you are focusing on spending time with loved ones and celebrating Christ’s birth. At Archetype, our job is to worry about the markets so that you don’t have to! However, in case you have been...
Financial markets bounced back from a rough October to see gains across the board for the month of November. The S&P 500 gained +2.0% on the month and appears poised to end 2018 in positive territory for the tenth consecutive year, having gained +5.1% year-to-date....
We never want to be a “Black Box” when it comes to our investment strategies and philosophies. In fact, we want our clients to be empowered with the knowledge of how their assets are being deployed, and have the comfort of knowing that there are downside protection...
If October felt scary to you for reasons unrelated to Halloween, it may be due to the stock market’s biggest one-month decline in nearly ten years. In February of 2009, the S&P 500 index lost -10.6%, marking the end to the roughly 56% decline in stocks brought on...
At market close on October 15th, the S&P 500 index was down about -6.5% from its peak last month, and last Wednesday’s -3.2% loss was the largest decline since February. In fact, many of the same concerns that plagued markets back in the first quarter of this year –...
With Q3 in the books, we find ourselves looking back on another quarter where US stocks outperformed all other assets, and portfolio diversification is again on trial. The debate over the merits of diversification are certainly not new in the investment community....
