Congress, at almost the last minute, passed a large number of tax changes, including a number that affect retirement plans and will become effective in 2020, as well as extensions through 2020 for a number of tax provisions that had expired or were about to. The list of changes is quite large, so we have only included those that are most likely to affect our clients. We recommend following up with your accountant for a full list of tax changes and how they may affect your personal or business si… View More
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Most of the equity markets edged higher this week despite the uncertainties in the Middle East; the Russell 2000® Index declined fractionally. For the week, the Nasdaq (1.75%) led the major indices followed by the S&P 500® Index (0.94%), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (0.66%) and the Russell 2000® (-0.19%). The markets opened the week lower following last week’s assassination of Iran’s military leader General Soleimani by U.S. drones in Iraq. Iran then retaliated with a nighttime, n… View More
On Tuesday, January 7th, Iran launched a series of missile attacks against US military bases Al-Asad and Arbil with state sponsored television reporting that this is the “opening of Terahn’s revenge” for the US drone attack responsible for killing General Qassem Soleimani. Later, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif signaled this could be both the “beginning” and the “end” of the strikes against the US. These two conflicting statements leave us wondering what to expect. Our hearts … View More
At the beginning of each year, we like to share the top 10 predictions of an analyst we have followed for many years, Bob Doll, who is the Chief Equity Strategist at Nuveen. He has historically been right on more than 70% of these predictions, and for us, they serve as a broad overview of the current economic climate. Bob Doll's Top 10 Predictions for 2020: The world avoids recession in 2020 as U.S. GDP grows over 2% and global GDP grows over 3%. Inflation and the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield … View More
Each year we like to provide you with some insight for the coming year ahead. We like the consistent outlook of one of our favorite portfolio managers/analysts, Bob Doll, from Nuveen asset management. Below is how Bob's predictions are faring so far for 2019. We will bring you his 2020 predictions right after the new year. As 2019 unwinds (and before we unveil Bob’s 2020 Predictions), it’s a good time to look back at the past 12 months and provide initial thoughts about what the next year m… View More
In a quiet, pre-holiday trading week, the major indices continued to move higher on renewed optimism for stronger economic growth in 2020. The Nasdaq (2.18%) outperformed followed by Russell 2000® Index (2.07%), the S&P 500® Index (1.65%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (1.14%). The de-escalation of trade wars with the Phase One agreement between the U.S. and China provided this week’s catalyst despite the lack of details on the agreement’s terms. Presidents Trump and Xi spoke on … View More
Congress Passes Sweeping Retirement Legislation, Sends To President's Desk Congress has passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement or SECURE Act as part of its 2020 spending package — providing advisors, the financial services industry and investors with the most significant piece of retirement legislation in a decade. Currently, 40% of private-sector workers do not have access to a workplace retirement plan. “The SECURE Act will increase workers' access to retirement… View More
As the end of the year and the holiday season approach, we will all see an increase in the number of charitable solicitations arriving in our mailboxes and by email. Since some charities sell their contributor lists to other charities, frequent contributors may find themselves besieged by requests from all sorts of charities with which they are not familiar. Watch Out for Charity Scams – You need to be careful; there are scammers out there pretending to be legitimate charities looking to take… View More
The equity markets ebbed and flowed last week on reports of a Phase One trade agreement between the U.S. and China. On Friday, the White House confirmed earlier rumors of an agreement; the markets’ muted reaction reflects the lack of specifics and modest scope of the deal. More details are coming out today and looks like the markets are welcoming the news. Last week, the Nasdaq (0.91%) led the market gains followed by S&P 500® Index (0.73%), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (0.43%) and Ru… View More
Most of the major indices closed fractionally lower for the week even after Friday’s jobs report, an unexpected gain of 266,000 jobs in November, provided the markets an early holiday gift. The estimates, 187,000 non-payroll jobs would still have been an improvement over Octobers’ upwardly revised 156,000 new hires. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, a 50-year low; wages increased 3.1% year-over-year. Also, the Michigan consumer confidence index rose to 99.2 compared to estimates of 97.0. F… View More