Since the S&P 500 Index peaked on July 26 at $3025, it has fallen 6% to today’s closing price of $2840, highlighted by extreme down moves on August 5 (-3.0%) and today (-2.9%). Note that the S&P 500 is still doing well year-to-date up almost 15%. Market sentiment the past few years has shifted multiple times from one extreme to the other. Either everything is great and concerns are minimal or brushed aside (see January 2018, September 2018 and July…

It has been exactly one month since our last market commentary, and the market selloff has continued. In November, we described three overhangs that weighed on the market: global trade, Italian debt, and interest rates. Since that time, Italian debt has become less of a concern as the Italian government struck a budget deal with the EU. On the other hand, the remaining concerns over global trade and interest rates have intensified. Yesterday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised…

Since our last commentary on October 11, 2018, the S&P 500 has both held a minor rally from $2728 to $2814 and subsequently fallen even further to today’s close of $2642. From a macroeconomic standpoint, the three primary overhangs – global trade concerns, Italian debt issues and rising interest rates – remain roughly the same as they were on October 11. Fundamentally, the main incremental negative has been weaker than expected corporate earnings. Third quarter reports were actually strong on…

Since the S&P 500 Index peaked on September 21 at $2940, it has fallen 7.2% to today’s closing price of $2728. The first few days of this decline were very gradual, followed by sharp moves lower both yesterday (-3.3%) and today (-2.1%). Yesterday’s move was the biggest one-day drop since February, when the market actually had two days in the same week that were worse at 3.8% and 4.1%. In fact, the recent decline has felt very similar to February…

Overarching Market Concern Global markets have recently come under pressure over the reemergence of political and debt concerns in both Italy and Spain. The chief concern for both is the fiscal budget pressure the countries have been under while other EU members assist in providing liquidity. These budget pressures have been viewed as overly burdensome by the voting public, and some anti-EU candidates have been elected to office, ultimately threatening their participation in the euro currency. A move by either…