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Market News and Insights

By Christopher Liong 08 Apr, 2024
Happy belated Easter to all and we hope everyone is okay from the surprise earthquake that only Californians have really come to expect last Friday. With spring technically here and Easter just behind us, it brings to question one of the most famous prognosticators of the last century. No, not Warren Buffet, but Punxsutawney Phil. Unfortunately, his track record is not quite as strong with only a 39% accuracy rate over the past 140 years. With that level of “success” it gives us stock pickers hope just yet! The Market. The broader market as defined by the S&P500 was up 10.2% in the 1Q of 2024, while the Dow was up 5.6%. This strength was mostly a continuation of what we saw in the 4Q of 2023 and was once again driven by the larger technology stocks that are associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI). While the Magnificent 7 continues to attract attention, this performance was more focused than previously and was primarily driven by Nvidia (NVDA) +88%, Meta Platforms (META) +42%, Microsoft (MSFT) +14% (Note: Tesla (TSLA) was -30%, and Apple (AAPL) -8%).
A close up of an american flag waving in the wind
By Christopher Liong 19 Feb, 2024
First, a very belated Happy New Year to all. With the recovery of the S&P 500 in 2023, despite the narrowness of it led by the Magnificent 7, 2024 promises to be an interesting year with interest rate increases and inflation likely behind us, the Chinese economy continuing to struggle, recession concerns waning and an election in November.
A doctor is holding a piggy bank with a dollar coin in it.
By Vijay Aluwalia 12 Dec, 2023
A health savings account (HSA) is a tax-advantaged medical savings account available to individuals who are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). HSAs can be invested in a manner similar to that of IRAs and have three distinct tax benefits: 1) contributions reduce taxable income, 2) earnings from interest and investment income are tax-deferred and 3) withdrawals to pay for qualified medical expenses are tax-free.
A close up of a christmas tree with lights on it.
By Christopher Liong 28 Nov, 2023
First, we hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving! As we near the end of the year, this will be our final newsletter as we are scheduling year-end review calls and should be speaking with each of you again shortly. If you have not scheduled the call, please contact us as soon as possible.
A person is reaching out to a flock of birds in the sky.
By Christopher Liong 23 Oct, 2023
With the recent events in the Middle East, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the potential for some kind of conflict in Asia with the saber rattling of North Korea and China, in addition to the divide that is taking place in this country, we hope and pray that sooner than later, cooler heads will prevail and that we can focus on addressing the bigger issues that the world is facing.
A young boy is jumping in the air in a park.
By Christopher Liong 18 Sep, 2023
With the sharp change in temperature this weekend, we can unofficially welcome fall as it is now time for sweaters, the changing of the leaves and in retail, pumpkin spice everything. In finance, it’s a good time to look back at how the year has played out so far and think about how we want to position for the balance of the year, with an eye out for 2024.
A man is sitting on a paper boat in the ocean looking through binoculars.
By Kristine Liong 18 Aug, 2023
Financial advisors typically advise clients to hold enough money in an emergency fund to cover 3-to-6 months of household living expenses, and in some cases emergency funds are set up to cover a year’s expenses. Unknowingly, many families are keeping these funds in checking accounts, which typically pay very-little-to-no interest. In today’s high interest rate environment, these funds can be earning thousands of dollars more annually in interest, while not taking on any additional risk.
A path leading to the beach with a wooden fence.
By Christopher Liong 27 Jun, 2023
With the arrival of June, we welcome summer. Two other words that do not sound so bad to investors are “positive markets.” As of Friday, the S&P 500 is up roughly 14% year-to-date which brings it approximately 9% off the all-time highs seen in early 2022. During the market decline in 2022, we wrote several times about how the underlying stocks in the market were significantly worse than the overall market appeared. Once again, the performance in the S&P 500 is deceiving.
A bunch of blue cubes are flying in the air on a blue background.
By Christopher Liong 23 May, 2023
The market has been roughly flat for the past month despite another large bank, First Republic, having to be seized by the FDIC and subsequently purchased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. This continues some of what we saw last month where, despite some of the turbulence, on the surface, things look calm.
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