Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 For the third consecutive year, the S&P 500 delivered a double-digit gain, rising 16.4% in 2025. However, the strongest performance was highly concentrated. Seven of the index’s ten best-performing stocks were driven...

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 In the final months of last year, the Federal Reserve reduced interest rates three times. The federal funds rate declined from a range of 5.25%-5.50% to 4.25%-4.50% during a three-month period as inflation appeared to be...

Our economy is large and complex. Assessing its health and likely path requires examining many different measures, all of which are interconnected to some degree. One of the most relevant variables is the rate of inflation.In its most basic form,...

After months of speculation and political back-and-forth, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed into law on July 4, 2025. It’s the most comprehensive tax legislation since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, permanently extending many...

Attempting to revitalize our manufacturing economy and make the United States less dependent on foreign trade, President Trump unveiled his list of global tariffs April 2nd on “Liberation Day.” The scale and scope of the shockingly high tariff...

Most investors would agree that financial markets can be highly unpredictable, generally more so in the near-term than the long run. Many factors influence the prices of securities, some on an individual basis, others at a macro level. A new...

The Federal Reserve recently concluded its most aggressive interest rate hikes in 40 years, moving the Fed Funds rate to a 23-year high. Higher interest rates have a profound impact on the economy, impacting borrowing costs for consumers and...

Seeking to lower inflation, the Federal Reserve began raising borrowing costs in March 2022 and held them at the highest level in more than two decades over the past year. Recent data showing price increases cascading towards normal levels has been...

Having raised interest rates sharply between 2022 and the middle of last year to curb inflation, Federal Reserve officials entered this year expecting to reduce borrowing costs. Unfortunately, a resurgence of inflation above expectations early this...

The U.S. economy continues to outperform expectations. Aggressive interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve to slow the economy and combat a spike in inflation following the pandemic were widely predicted to result in a recession. This had...