Market Minute

January 2023 – By Scott Rosenquist, CFA®

The calendar has turned but the issues concerning financial markets remain the same.  The Federal Reserve is on track to continue tightening financial conditions through interest rate increases and reducing the size of its balance sheet which became bloated when it stepped in to support the bond market during the pandemic. Inflation remains above the two percent target that the Federal Reserve continues to defend. Recent gauges of the economic activity show services and manufacturing are in contraction as rate hikes take hold to slow the economy. How much longer will the Fed maintain its restrictive policy stance?

Market Memo

December 2022 – By Bob Veres

The market is experiencing another lurching downturn after experiencing another couple of weeks of encouraging gains, and that tells you most of what you need to know about the markets.  Despite the breathless reporting in the financial press, stock prices go up, and down, and up, and down more or less at random (in the short term) and consistently show incremental gains (in the longer term).  Unfortunately, it’s hard to see that generally upward trend for all the short-term noise.

Market Memo

August 2022 – By Kyle Rohrwasser

Since our last Market Memo, a lot of information and news has come out changing the short-term paradigm within the marketplace and economic environment. We here at Vantage believes that we are still working through the effects of the pandemic as well as its economic response. From recent record-high inflation, war overseas, energy shortages, and inverted yield curve, low unemployment, negative GDP, and a hawkish Fed; we live in a unique and new market that is still finding its place. 

July 2022 – By Bob Veres

By now, you know that the U.S. Federal Reserve Board raised the so-called Fed Funds rate by three quarters of a percent—the largest increase since 1994.  You may also have heard that the size of the increase took everybody by surprise—a list that includes economists, pundits, journalists and professional investors.  The news drove the markets, already teetering on the edge, into bear market territory—defined as a 20% drop from previous highs.