Index Performance

U.S. and International Equities

Major Markets in the Green

The major equity markets finished the week higher, as the Santa Claus rally continued to take hold even amid concerns about the Omicron variant’s effects on the economy. Nevertheless, the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) hawkish stance on inflation continues to weigh on investor’s minds. Real estate enjoyed a strong week as well as an excellent 2021, as investors saw opportunity in the sector given its income producing properties and potential to act as an inflation hedge.

International markets also c

Here it is, our final blog of 2021, and what better topic than the blog itself and the readers who make writing it so rewarding.

Our aim with the blog is simple: every day provide market analysis that is timely, understandable, actionable, and occasionally fun. While we have a good time with the blog, we take its underlying purpose very seriously.

For our last blog of the year, we look at our 10 most read blogs of 2021. The blogs are listed below, sorted from the most read to the 10th most read. For each we include the publication date, a central quote, and what, in hindsight, actually happened.

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The municipal market has been a relative bright spot for core fixed income investors in 2021. While most of the other “safe” parts of the core fixed income universe have generated negative returns this year, the national muni market is up for the year (through December 22). With state and local governments flush with cash due to better-than-expected tax receipts along with generous amounts of federal aid, many municipalities are in good shape. The fundamental picture for many state and local entities improved rather significantly during 2021. Coming out of the COVID-19 economic shutdowns, many states and local governments were con

We expect interest rates to move modestly higher in 2022 based on near-term inflation expectations above historical trends and improving growth expectations once the impact of COVID-19 variants recede. Our year-end 2022 forecast for the 10-year Treasury yield is 1.75–2.00%. An aging global demographic that needs income, higher global debt levels, and an ongoing bull market in equities may keep interest rates from going much higher.

Coming into 2021, we expected Treasury yields to move higher from their very low levels and they did. Higher inflation expectations, less involvement in the bond market by the Federal Reserve (Fe