Stocks took a bit of a breather in June. The S&P 500 slipped 1.66%, and the Dow dropped 1.49%. Considering the strength of stocks earlier in the year, this is not much of a pullback. Small cap stocks, which have been underperforming slightly in recent months, were down just 0.57% in June. Surprisingly, tech stocks bucked the trend (the typical tech sector fund was up about 1%) and were, for the most part, up slightly in June, despite the fact that the NASDAQ as a whole fell 0.05%. ...read the rest of this article»

April was almost shockingly strong for stocks. The S&P 500 jumped 4.42%, the Nasdaq 4.27%, and the Dow a whopping 5.87%. International stocks climbed just shy of 4%. Yet, the strength was mostly in larger cap stocks. The Russell 2000 small cap index was up just 1.8% in April, and has scored only a 7.83% gain over the last 12 months—a time period during which the S&P 500 climbed more than 15% and the Dow 17.6%. ...read the rest of this article»

The Conservative Portfolio climbed 0.46% in March.The market has shrugged off February's sharp drop as though it were just a moment of baseless anxiety. We’re not in the camp that thinks that all systems are go and the real estate slowdown is only going to have minimal repercussions on the economy. We’d be more enthusiastic if stocks were lower – or if fund investors were less optimistic. ...read the rest of this article»

Gulp. In our portfolio commentary from just four weeks ago, we said that "the market continues its heady ascent," and "if this keeps up unabated, it probably won’t end well.” A few days later, the Dow plummeted more than 500 points in just a few hours before partially recovering later in the day. After climbing back, it took another 250 point drop this past week. Nevertheless, due to big gains earlier in the year, the Dow is only down about 2%. The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Russell 2000 (small cap index) are also all down for the year. ...read the rest of this article»

In January the S&P 500 gained a healthy 1.5%. Over the last twelve months this most-tracked index was up 14.5% - more than the NASDAS’s 6.84% rise, and more than the Russell 2000 small cap indexes 10.43% return. The real story is the 30 Dow stocks, up nearly 1.6% in January and almost 19% over the last twelve months. Mega cap U.S. stocks have been leading, and will likely continue to lead.  ...read the rest of this article»

In December, the S&P500 climbed 1.40% and the Dow 2.11%, while the NASDAQ slipped 0.68%. Small cap stocks rose, but only 0.34% (as measured by the Russell 2000 index), and bonds were weak as interest rates inched back up. The Lehman Brothers Long Term Treasury Index was down 2.14%, while the Vanguard Total Bond Index, which is less sensitive to interest rate shocks, fell by just 0.48%. ...read the rest of this article»

Now that most funds have released year-end capital gains estimates and record dates, we have been able to create our <a href="http://maxadvisor.com/newsletter/reports/MAX.2006.distribution.pdf">annual year-end tax report</a> for all the funds in our model portfolios. Please download the PDF for estimates (and dates) of the distributions. Also, check out our guide to year-end tax issues for advice, tips, and tricks related to year end fund distributions. ...read the rest of this article»

Small cap stocks are now noticeably lagging these larger-cap-weighted indexes. The Russell 2000 index of smaller cap stocks gained just 0.83% in September, and is up just 0.44% over the last three months. Foreign stocks have been flat recently as well. ...read the rest of this article»

August was a surprisingly good month on Wall Street. A solid chunk of the losses incurred in the stock market from earlier in the year was erased. Factor in gains posted so far in September and the media is once again back to reminding us how close we are to an all time high in the Dow. Interest rates continued lower, and are now almost back to where they were before the big scary move up in rates started – the one that spelled housing market crash from rising mortgage rates. Now we’re back to worrying about why longer term rates are so much lower than short term rates – one warning sign of a possible looming recession.  ...read the rest of this article»

In July, safer investments performed better than more speculative ones. The Dow was up 0.45%, the S&P500 gained 0.62%, and the S&P100 – the largest stocks from the S&P500 - rose a solid 1.7%. The Russell 2000 small cap index was down 3.25%, while the Nasdaq fell 3.71%. Larger cap foreign stocks more or less stabilized and moved up with the U.S. market, but smaller cap foreign stocks had some trouble. Bonds gained as interest rates headed downward – so much for the big interest rate increase. The Vanguard Total Bond Index was up 1.35% for the month. ...read the rest of this article»