I was watching Down to Earth with Zac Efron the other night. It’s an inspirational, light-hearted show about travel, culture, and wellness. This episode was filmed on the Australian Pacific coast. A local guide showed Efron a sawfish: a fascinating, endangered fish.

The fish’s jagged rostrum resembles a saw blade. It reminds me of a one-month and a one-year stock market chart. It’s like a whipsaw pattern of moderate highs and moderate lows. Between the highs and lows, the market has been essentially moving sideways like a saw blade.

Sources of volatility are as follows. Investors are watching yet another debt ceiling deadlock between Congress and the White House. Worries about the banking sector continue. Sticky inflation is still on everyone’s radar. And then there’s the endless speculation about recessions and what the Federal Reserve might do next.

It’s natural that investors broadly are feeling cautious. However, that doesn’t mean that we should panic. The stock market might look like a jagged saw blade, but in our view the blade itself seems to be “held” in a flat position, not angled downward. That is reassuring.

Also reassuring is remembering that choppy markets aren’t too strange historically. Corrections and pullbacks happen frequently because there’s always something going on. Despite average intra-year drops of 14.3%, the S&P 500 annual returns were positive in 32 of the past 43 years. Sideways periods can serve as a base from which longer-term growth can resume.

Nature, like the stock market over the long run, wants to heal and grow. I believe both the endangered sawfish and the directionless market will impress over the longer run. Part of what they both need from us is simply space and patience.

May 15, 2023

Market Update | May 15, 2023

I was watching Down to Earth with Zac Efron the other night. It’s an inspirational, light-hearted show about travel, culture, and wellness. This episode was filmed […]
April 24, 2023

Market Update | April 24, 2023

What’s some good news from the past week or two in your life? It doesn’t have to be big news. Have you had a memorable meal […]
April 12, 2023

Language Creates Reality

We’d like to share a quote by Desmond Tutu: “Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes.” It […]
March 28, 2023

Are You Taking Advantage of Higher Interest Rates with Your Cash?

When most folks think of a wealth management firm, they think of a company that helps clients manage a portfolio often consisting of stocks, bonds, and […]
March 13, 2023

Market Update | March 13, 2023

The leading financial news story of the past five days has been the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. It is the largest bank to fail in […]
February 27, 2023

Market Update | February 27, 2023

Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s meeting concluding February 1 were released last Thursday, February 23. The minutes indicated that nearly all members of the Federal Open […]
February 13, 2023

Market Update | February 13, 2023

Inflation has been cooling since the middle part of 2022 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index […]
January 30, 2023

Market Update | January 30, 2023

The past couple of weeks in economic news provided something for everyone. There was enough new economic data to support both the “recession is coming” and […]
January 18, 2023

Market Update | January 18, 2023

The December inflation report had some encouraging news. It showed that consumer prices trended lower for the month, but more importantly, it confirmed that overall prices […]
December 19, 2022

Market Update | December 19, 2022

Two weeks ago, we wrote, “Last week [was] choppy for stocks. Crosscurrents about interest rate outlooks seem to be batting the market around.” The same basis […]
Form ADV Part 2A
Form CRS