James Bond: “I admire your courage, Miss…?”Sylvia Trench: “Trench, Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mr…?”James Bond: “Bond. James Bond.” –Dr. No, 1962 SPECTRE. The U.S. stock market is a relentless winner.  For nearly two decades since the financial crisis, stocks have been repeatedly confronted with all measures of danger and tight spots seemingly impossible to escape.  Whether facing down the … Read More

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. While equity markets have staged a powerful recovery since bottoming in April amid noise around international trade, much of Wall Street is beginning to question whether the rebound has gone too far. Market concentration has reached unprecedented levels: 10% of companies within equity markets now account for 76% of total market capitalization, … Read More

“I get this feeling I may know you, as a lover and a friend, but this voice keeps whispering in my other ear, tells me I may never see you again”  –Peaceful Easy Feeling, Eagles, 1972  A billion stars all around. It’s all so perfect.  The U.S. economy continues to grow at a healthy pace, inflationary pressures remain firmly in check, corporate earnings … Read More

“Ain’t nobody dope as me, I’m just so fresh, so clean”  –So Fresh, So Clean, OutKast, 2000  Gator belts and patty melts. The U.S. stock market remains on one helluva ride in 2025.  After starting the year on a December through February consolidation grind, worries about tariffs that eventually were manifested sent the S&P 500 on a -21% tumble through … Read More

Nothing says monetary tension like a photo op in hard hats. When President Trump and Fed Chair Jerome Powell toured the under-renovation Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington D.C., the visit was more than just a symbolic walkthrough. It marked the latest chapter in Trump’s long-running campaign to pressure the central bank into cutting interest rates.  Trump and … Read More

Coldplayed, verb Emotionally disappointed from being caught up in high hopes, only to be let down Being unintentionally exposed while cheating in public Trouble. It’s been a tough week for people having affairs at concerts.  A few key themes have risen to the surface in the process.  One, there may actually be such a thing as bad publicity after all.  Another, key … Read More

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit our GVA Advisors in Boca Raton, Florida.  This week’s article is inspired by the great conversation we had during our stay with some of our Advisor friends over dinner (one of which I look forward to potentially hearing play the guitar someday!). “Then as it was, then again it will beAn’ though … Read More

The second half of 2025 is underway.  And now that we’ve enjoyed our final Fourth of July festivities before the big Bisesquicentennial celebrations next year (250 years is hard to believe – I can still remember standing on the side of the road in back in 1976 watching the Bicentennial Wagon Train Pilgrimage roll by as it wrapped up its … Read More

The explosive rise of artificial intelligence has made semiconductors the new oil, but electricity may become the new constraint. As demand for data centers surges, driven by large language models and the companies that are building them, America’s power grid is being pushed to its limits. The U.S. is beginning to face a growing energy crisis, compounded by geopolitical tensions … Read More

It all seems very bizarre.  I was born in 1973, so three ubiquitous kid fears were subconsciously ingrained into my adolescent and adult subconscious.  One is an irrational feeling of alarm at the sight of nuclear power plant cooling towers (Three Mile Island accident in 1979).  Another  is the omnipresent threat that the world will be spontaneously obliterated by global … Read More