Articles

Uncertainty over whether Congress would pass a new health-care law, coupled with the prospects of additional interest rate hikes later in the year, may have weighed on investors’ minds as stocks tumbled early last week. BWFA will look closely at… Read More

Following President’s speech to Congress last Tuesday evening, stocks soared Wednesday before retreating Thursday and Friday while bond yields soared, possibly in response to Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s indication that interest rates are likely to be raised when the Committee next meets later this month. The price of… Read More

Stocks fell early last week, with the Dow dropping below 20000, while yields on long-term Treasuries receded as prices climbed with increased demand. However, news that the Fed was not raising interest rates this month, coupled with a favorable jobs… Read More

The Markets (as of market close January 27, 2017)   The Dow reached 20000 for the first time ever as favorable earnings reports coupled with anticipated pro-business policies apparently spurred trading, although a relatively weak GDP report at week’s end may… Read More

The Markets (as of market close January 13, 2017)   The past few weeks have seen the markets experience some volatility following several weeks of post-election gains. The Dow fell for the second time in the past three weeks, while the… Read More

The fallout from the increase in the federal funds rate saw bond yields rise, with the yield on 10-year Treasuries hitting a 2-year high. Bond prices tend to fall (and yields rise) when interest rates increase. Lender rates from financial… Read More

Following a week of tepid movement in the major stock market indexes, equities picked up the pace last week. Growth in financial company and bank stocks led the way as both the large-cap Dow and S&P 500 rose moderately. Some… Read More

Robust gains that marked the last few weeks turned to modest declines last week. Gains in energy shares, following OPEC’s announcement to cap production, weren’t enough to totally offset a regression in small-cap and technology stocks. Both the Russell 2000… Read More

Treasury yields continue to climb as the 10-year rate jumped 20 basis points for the week while exceeding last year’s closing yield for the first time in 2016. The dollar has been keeping pace with rising bond yields, which is… Read More

Even a good jobs report wasn’t enough to steady investors last week, as stocks lost value from the prior week. Oil prices fell midweek following a report that crude oil inventories are larger than expected. While OPEC leaders agreed to… Read More

As the presidential election draws near, news about the candidates may be affecting the markets. Word of an FBI investigation into more Clinton emails, coupled with some earnings reports that were weaker than expected, sent equities into the red for… Read More

Last week began with a whimper as equities closed down (the Dow fell 0.3%), while the 10-year Treasuries yield dropped 4 basis points and bond prices increased. Oil (WTI) fell below $50 per barrel before rallying to around $50.50 per… Read More

Last week equities started off well enough, still feeding off the Fed’s decision to leave interest rates alone for the time being. But fear of financial instability for one of the world’s largest banks may have prompted many investors to… Read More

Buoyed by news from the Fed, as well as the Bank of Japan, that measures intended to stimulate the economy would continue — at least in the short term — U.S. stocks and U.S. bonds posted gains for the week…. Read More

Volatility in the markets reigned last week as each of the indexes enjoyed gains early in the week, only to give most of them back by last week’s end. The Dow and S&P 500 closed last week only slightly ahead… Read More

The Markets (as of market close September 9, 2016) Equities indexes rebounded early last week as lackluster economic reports in the labor and manufacturing sectors, coupled with a falling dollar, appear to be fueling speculation that the Fed won’t be… Read More

Trading continues to be light heading into the Labor Day weekend. Stocks finished modestly higher for the week, buoyed by last Friday’s favorable employment report. The price of crude oil (WTI) closed at $44.36 a barrel last week, down from $47.33… Read More

 As the “dog days” of summer drag on, trading continues to be relatively light. Oil prices fell at the beginning of last week amid rumors that Iraq may up its oil exports, prompting stocks to retreat. While stocks rallied midweek,… Read More

By the close of last Monday, the Dow, S&P 500, and NASDAQ each had reached record highs for the second time in the past week, only to retreat by Tuesday’s close. The dollar lost value against the euro, yen, and pound on… Read More

GDP growth rate for the second quarter, earnings reports from some key companies, as well as the large cap market indexes all cooled off last week.  The tech-based NASDAQ and the small-cap Russell 2000 each posted weekly gains, with the… Read More

The S&P 500 reached a record high last Friday while other major indexes posted marginal gains over the prior week. Equities have demonstrated a positive trend over the past several weeks. The NASDAQ eclipsed its previous high only to slip… Read More

After an event has occurred, we have a tendency to see the event as having been predictable, even if we had little or no objective means for predicting it. This concept is referred to as hindsight bias or the knew-it-all-along… Read More

The concept of averaging down, or adding more shares to an existing security position when the price falls, is well known to many investors. In fact, some of history’s best investors have added considerable wealth by adding to positions that… Read More

Behavioral finance tries to address those psychological traps that are confronted while making decisions under uncertainty, such as those investors make when deciding to buy or sell securities. In the past we have talked about behavioral biases such as myopic… Read More

Although the U.S. economy has been in expansion mode for much of the last seven plus years, U.S. businesses are spending less on buildings, equipment and software than they have historically. The data tells us that companies are reducing their… Read More

On Monday, March 9, 2009, the S&P 500 Index closed at 676.53, representing that index’s lowest close in more than a decade. On the previous Friday, the index touched its low (666.79) in a bear market that seemed like it… Read More

Over the past few years, many U.S. companies have borrowed heavily. However, many companies have used these funds to repurchase their shares instead of investing them to spur future growth. According to FactSet, the dollar value of share repurchases amounted… Read More

If you remember the movie Back to the Future II you will recall that Biff goes to the future and steals a Sports Almanac. He then returns to the past and gives it to a younger version of himself. Young Biff used… Read More

January was certainly a turbulent month for investors. The S&P 500 Index declined 5.1%, its worst month since August. Daily stock-trading volumes were above normal levels, as the most shares changed hands since August 2011. Of course, two weeks ago,… Read More

We hope that all of you who are reading this commentary are enjoying the holiday season and getting an opportunity to spend time with friends and family. Happy Holidays to all! As we approach year end, we are reminded that… Read More