It seems like crazy things tend to happen in March, and this March is no exception. Last Friday, the 16th largest bank in the U.S., Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), failed in spectacular, breathtaking fashion. Two days prior, by all outward appearances, this was a stable bank, whose stock price finished Wednesday at $267.83, up a …
With such a riveting headline, you’re probably a little skeptical of how much time you want to dedicate to this blog post… We all take for granted, to some degree, that the indexes that represent the stock market are, in fact, the stock market. When someone asks how the market performed over a certain period, …
Standing the Test of Time Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, once articulated that a question he is asked over and over again is, “What’s going to change over the next 10 years?” Bezos goes on to express that it is a common and interesting question, but he is almost never asked, “What’s not going …
Be Careful What You Wish For With that provocative title, you’re probably wondering what you or we wished for that has now gone sideways. Like, did we wish for higher inflation, as the Federal Reserve did, from 2008 all the way up until March, 2022? Did we wish that the private sector would be allowed …
What is The Yield Curve Telling Us? The chart below shows the first half return of the S&P 500. The approximate -20% return this year is the worst since 1970. The good news is up periods usually follow down periods and the ups outnumber the downs more than 2 to 1. The market is fearful …
First of all, we hope everyone is safe and their power is back on now, or soon will be. The refugees in our house now have the power back on at their place, so if anyone needs a cool bedroom, please let us know. The question most people have asked us, or at least asked …
We want to give a shout-out to all the clients who joined us at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo on Sunday. We were treated to a picnic lunch at the pavilion in the African Journey, then a show by a couple of the Zoo’s keepers, who showed us 3 animals, including this python: The Zoo …
Greetings from Omaha! Yes, we know that today is Fed Day, and we are all back in the Fort in the Monarch office today. As expected, the Fed raised its Fed Funds target rate by 0.50% (50 basis points) this afternoon. Commensurately, the Fed will also shrink its massive balance sheet by not reinvesting the …
Hunting for a Lollapalooza Great oaks from little acorns grow. A single voter by himself wields little influence, but if millions vote the same way they can change the direction of a country. Termites are tiny insects, but working together they will collapse a mansion. A person labors all his/her life in a low-paying …
