Earnings season delivered as expected. With 92% of results for S&P 500 Index companies in the books, first quarter 2019 earnings are tracking to roughly flat with the prior year [Figure 1]. While flat earnings don’t sound impressive, we con

U.S.-China trade tensions escalated last week. President Trump increased tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports to the United States from 10% to 25% and has threatened to put 25% tariffs on an additional $325 billion of Chinese goods — a pr

“Sell in May and go away” is probably the most widely cited stock market cliché in history. Every year a barrage of Wall Street commentaries, media stories, and investor questions flood in about the popular stock market adage. This

Stocks reached new highs last week. The S&P 500 Index completed a V-shaped recovery last week to register its first record high since September 20, 2018, to close at 2933.68 on April 23 [Figure 1]. Here we share our thoughts on what this record c

We wrote about the new record high for the S&P 500 Index Wednesday . This is such a big market event we wanted to share some additional thoughts—10 of them in fact—on this market milestone:

1. The new high secured March 9, 201

U.S. stocks are sitting at the same levels they were seven months ago, but the path hasn’t been straight. Equity investors have been on a bumpy ride since September 2018, and investors’ resolve has been tested amid back-and-forth in trade

After such a strong rally for stocks this year, you may be wondering what could drive stocks higher from here. With the S&P 500 Index less than 1% away from its all-time high set September 20, 2018, a lot of good news has been priced into stocks.

First quarter earnings season kicks off this week and the bar seems low. Consensus estimates for first quarter earnings season are calling for a slight year-over-year decline in S&P 500 Index earnings amid the economic soft patch at the start of

Risk-reward trade-off in stocks has become less attractive following recent gains. Stocks have had quite a run this year, with the S&P 500 Index up 12% as of March 22, 2019, and 19% since the December 24 lows [Figure 1]. The index now sits just 5

Large caps may be better positioned than small caps, given where we are in the business cycle. Small cap stocks have performed well so far in 2019, with the Russell 2000 Index, the most popular small cap benchmark, up 15.2% year to date compared with