2024 marked another remarkable year for investors!

The U.S. markets notched a second record year of impressive returns, gaining more than 23 percent. The Mag 7—a group of large tech stocks—drove much of this growth, with Nvidia leading the charge for a second consecutive year.

Replay of our webinar hosted October 31, 2024, where we discussed recent alarming headlines - from fears of the dollar’s potential demise and concerns about U.S. debt, to worries over artificial intelligence taking jobs, and a few large stocks dominating the U.S. market. These stories can stir up fears of an economic apocalypse, but is rushing to gold or bitcoin really the answer? We welcomed Stephanie Aliaga from J.P. Morgan’s Market Insights team to discuss why there’s still plenty of reason for optimism.

The Federal Reserve recently made its first interest rate cut in more than four years, reducing their benchmark rate by 0.50% at their September 18 meeting. Although this move was widely anticipated, we want to unpack what this means for your investments and where we expect interest rates to go from here.

Replay of our webinar hosted July 23, 2024, where we discussed historical perspectives on elections and markets, how the government and stock market are intertwined, what does control of congress tell us about market performance, how do specific policies of the president impact the market, and most importantly what should you be doing with your investment portfolio during the run up this November’s election.

As we sit here in mid-July and reflect on the first half of 2024 there is so much good news to talk about regarding the US economy, the global capital markets, and the exciting wave of technology innovation being driven by Artificial Intelligence. US markets have reached all times (S&P 500 closed the quarter at 5,460 +53% from its Oct. 12, 2022, low); US GDP rose 1.4% in Q1 and 2.9% Year over Year; Headline CPE moderated slightly to 3.3% and the Fed’s preferred metric PCE was at 2.6%, much closer to their 2% target. Outside of the US, emerging markets have returned 7.7% YTD through June and developed international markets have returned a solid 5.7% over the same period.

Many of you may not remember The Twilight Zone, a Sci-Fi TV series from the early 60’s, created by Rod Sterling. I have vague memories from watching reruns as a child. One episode stuck with me. It was about a neurotic older man who was obsessed with organization and detail; to the extent it drove him crazy, and he ended up in a mental institution. He kept muttering, “a place for everything and everything in its place”.

Replay of our webinar hosted April 10, 2024, where we discussed recent investment trends and how we can apply the lessons learned from these experiences as we navigate the investment landscape of 2024 and beyond.