The seesaw is back. A market that was looking a little scary in January and early February rebounded strongly, leaving the stocks basically flat for the year (until, that is, the start of March when Russian mischief sent stocks plummeting anew). ...read the rest of this article»

The almost uninterrupted upward run in U.S. stocks ended in January, with a 3.5% drop in the S&P 500, a slide that so far is continuing into February. While hardly severe by historic standards, this was the worst month for stocks since May 2012 and we’re now down about 5% from all-time highs. ...read the rest of this article»

In hindsight, it was a year in which to invest wholeheartedly in U.S. stocks, the perfect cap to a multi-year trend of outperformance that began right about the time everyone gave up on America ...read the rest of this article»

2013 is turning out to be among the best calendar years for stocks ever. With November’s 3% rise in the S&P 500, we’re now up almost 29% for the year. But the excitement was mostly in U.S. stocks. Bonds sunk slightly and emerging market stocks dropped just over 2%. Larger foreign stocks also underperformed, up less than 1%.  ...read the rest of this article»

In October stocks went back to their old tricks and treats…see-sawing up and down on scary financial news but ultimately ending with a big gain. As the specter of global calamity resulting from a shutdown and defaulting U.S. Government fell to the wayside (at least for a few months…) the stock market sprang back to life, and is now up for the year about as much as the entire year of 2008 – a major rebound year for stocks after a sharp slide. ...read the rest of this article»

September’s portfolio performance was not expected - in what was a strong market for stocks our Aggressive portfolio beat the market, and Conservative portfolio came pretty close. ...read the rest of this article»

Stocks and bonds sunk in August, which makes it difficult for a portfolio made up of both to perform well. Of all the things investors worry about, the high correlation of all asset classes is the most distressing, and most likely. ...read the rest of this article»

The June Swoon proved temporary as stocks rebounded to new highs in July. Even previously lackluster foreign stocks joined the party as both U.S. and foreign larger stocks rose just over 5%. Emerging market stocks weren’t in a festive mood though – they continued to underperform returning less than 1% in July. Bonds were mostly flat after sliding in recent months. ...read the rest of this article»

Almost all yield-oriented foreign investments were already sliding, and U.S. stocks finally got caught up in the downdraft. The S&P 500 fell 1.35%, although the drop in the index was better than the average returns in essentially all categories of funds except short term bonds and small cap growth, including many of our own holdings. It was a bad month to be diversified. ...read the rest of this article»

Interest rates jumped, creating fears the end of falling rates is finally here. This took the entire bond market down almost 2% with a bit more damage to longer-term bonds (notably government bonds) which dropped almost 7%. High yield bonds, which are sensitive to interest rates but also to rising stocks and an improving economy, were down around a half percent.  ...read the rest of this article»