Author: Liz Young
How exactly did the US economy fare last month?
Economic data such as retail sales, consumer spending, and business inventories pointed to robust growth last month, and inflation data continued to look promising. In a …
Is the US economy stuck in a riptide?
Caught in a Riptide It’s been a while since international topics made regular headline appearances, but that might be changing. For the last year and a …
Is the US stock market actually healthy right now?
On the Margin Q2 earnings season is 93% complete as of the time of writing with an earnings per share (EPS) growth rate of -5.2% y/y, …
Brace yourselves: The economic “steepening” is (probably) coming
Can You Take Me High Enough? Those are lyrics from a song by the Damn Yankees, a group I know zero other songs from, but which …
Is the stock market headed toward “the right” kind of trouble?
Too Early or Too Wrong? It’s no secret that bears have found themselves on the wrong side of the market — and in many ways, the …
Get ready: Interest rate hike life is back
Back in the Hike Life The Federal Open Market Committee resumed rate hikes after a pause in June and raised the target rate by 25 basis …
How did the stock market fare in July?
In a month where growth data came in strong & inflation data came in cool, the Federal Reserve decided to hike rates and reiterated that future …
Fear or fortune: Which do Americans think the stock market will bring them?
This or That? That’s how the lyrics of a 1991 hip hop song called, “The Choice is Yours” start off — and although the rest of …
How does the US economy look for the second half of 2023?
Going Halfsies The second half of 2023 is underway, and another earnings season is fast approaching. The first half seems to have flown by, despite a …
Don’t call it a comeback: Banks & the inflation fight
The Federal Reserve decided not to hike rates at the June FOMC meeting, after hiking at every meeting since Jan 2022, though they indicated that two …
Is the US economy still fighting its way into a bull market?
All Rise As we approach the midpoint of the year, and after a strong rally in parts of the market, an exploration of where things currently …
Is the battery running low for energy investors?
Battery Low It’s not new news that the Energy sector has had a rough go of it in 2023 — it’s currently the worst performing sector …
Should American investors be worried about China?
Globetrotting There’s been a decent amount of chatter lately about international economies, markets, and all of the possible effects they could have on U.S. markets. There’s …
The one potentially huge investing mistake that has this pro saying “that’s wild to me”
Skinny Love For anyone not familiar with the band Bon Iver, let this be your introduction. The lead singer, Justin Vernon, was born in a small …
Could this little-known metric save us from inflation?
Supercore to the Rescue Each mini-milestone in the fight against inflation has the power to move markets in the short-term, but it’s the enduring trend that …
That’s all, folks: Fed Reserve issues (hopefully) last interest rate hike of the year
Hold for a Pause I’ll resist the urge to declare, “That’s all folks,” because we never can be sure — but it sounded to me like …
The US stock market: Is the worst yet to come?
Starry-Eyed Surprise The theme this week is a tough one to figure out, so I’ll spell it out — these are all titles of songs that …
Is this the calm before the stock market storm?
Whistle While You Wait Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Sentiment is bearish. Even some of the most bullish voices have turned down the volume. …
So, just how bad was inflation during March?
Seeping Out of the Balloon The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data showed a cooling in the headline number to 5.0% y/y from last month’s 6.0% …
Is the stock market livin’ on a prayer?
Livin’ on a Prayer The next stop on the market news train is Q1 earnings season, which begins in earnest next week, and the industry group …
Why we should expect the unexpected from the stock market this year
Expect the Unexpected Hard to believe we’re already at the end of the first quarter, but perhaps less hard to believe that there have been some …
What the Silicon Valley Bank failure means for investors
Bad Moon Rising Last week’s events surrounding Silicon Valley Bank & Signature Bank, just to name a couple, served as a painful reminder of how quickly …
What are the stock market’s biggest red flags right now?
Chutes and Ladders With Chairman Powell’s testimony marking another message of “data dependency,” I can’t help but feel like every data point either sends the market …
Latest stock market trends reveal some good and not-so-good news for investors
Get Shorty My first job out of college was as a trader for a trust company, in a department called automated cash management. That meant I …
The 2023 stock market so far: Up, up and …?
Splitsville This may be one of the more short-term oriented posts I’ll write, but we’re in an era of short attention spans and a market walk …
Watch out: The latest market trends may look good on paper, but bad in reality
Same Same, but Different Different This week’s big news story was, yet again, about inflation. January headline CPI came in above expectations but slightly below December. …
Why this might be one of the hardest financial cycles of our lifetime
The Future Is Further Away Recently in a CNBC interview, I admitted what I’ve gotten wrong so far in 2023 is that I thought it would …
An investment pro breaks down the Fed’s February statement
Close, But No Cigar In its first statement of 2023, the Federal Reserve raised its target policy rate by 25 basis points (bps) to an upper …
A financial pro looks at 5 undeniable truths about the 2023 market
Walks Like a Duck, Quacks Like a Duck In recent weeks, due in large part to a market rally that kicked off the year, the …
An investment pro looks at China
Much Ado About China Although China is rarely noticeably absent from headlines, its return to being top of mind has been feverishly fierce in recent …
