Since we began our investing careers, we’ve had the concept of diversification drilled into our heads. Some refer to it as the only free lunch in investing. Well, when it comes to geography, that advice hasn’t been helpful for some time (you could say the same about value-style investing). Staying close to home and favoring the United States won’t always be the best move, but for now, we think it still is—as we discuss here. 

Europe’s Economy Showing Solid Improvement

It’s been difficult to find a macroeconomic story that supports reducing exposure to U.S. equities in favor of their

The October payroll report more than delivered on expectations for a bounce back from the soft September report.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its October employment report this morning, revealing that the domestic economy added a solid 531,000 jobs during the month, exceeding Bloomberg-surveyed economists’ median forecast for a gain of 450,000. This comes on the heels of a weak September report, originally reported at 194,000 but revised this morning up to 312,000, as shown in the LPL Chart of the Day. The previous two months were revised up by 235,000 combined.

The good news didn&

The Federal Reserve (Fed) ended its two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting yesterday and, as expected, announced plans to reduce (taper) its $120 billion a month bond purchase program starting this month. The Fed plans to reduce its Treasury purchases by $10 billion each month and its mortgage securities purchases by $5 billion a month, which was in line with our expectations. The Committee only provided guidance for its November and December purchase plans but the expectation is the reductions will remain consistent in future months as well, but may vary based on economic conditions. This provides the Fed flexibility to change

The Dow Jones Industrial Average started trading more than 125 years ago and yesterday it closed above 36,000 for the first time ever. Along the way, the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Russell 2000 (small caps) all closed at new all-time highs as well.

“We understand all of the worries. Labor shortages, inflation, the pandemic, the Fed, Washington drama, supply chain bottlenecks, and a slowing economy,” explained LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “But the other side of the coin is earnings have been really good and the stock market is looking forward to better times, not looking in the rear view mirr