The Weekly Update 08/28/2026™ Created by Jim Lunney, CFP®

The Weekly Update 08/28/2026™ Created by Jim Lunney, CFP® Finally, a Headline Telling the Truth! As long-time readers know, I am a huge fan of Yardeni Research. Dr. Ed Yardeni is smart, independent and his firm's research has been...

The Weekly Update 08/21/2026™ written by Jim Lunney, CFP®

The Weekly Update 08/21/2026™ written by Jim Lunney, CFP® Media Hyper or Fact? Those of you who have read The Weekly Update™ and The Monthly Update, The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™, over the last two decades know I am not a fan...

The Weekly Update 08/14/2026™

The Weekly Update 08/14/2026™ Crash Not Likely The earnings of Corporate America are what drive the share prices of some up or down. If my Kool-Aid stand earns one dollar and yours earns two dollars, it is likely your stand is 2x the...

The Weekly Update 08/07/2026™

The Weekly Update 08/07/2026™ Looks like The Weekly Update I wrote and posted to TWSG website last Friday nailed it. The Weekly Update for 7/31/2026 was written and posted with near perfect detail and timing. So accurate that I am...

The Weekly Update 07/31/2026™

The Weekly Update 07/31/2026™ Summer Is Acting Like Summer! In last week's edition of The Weekly Update™, I shared the common denominator of my 44 summers before this one. The common denominator is that all have experienced choppy...

The Weekly Update 07/24/2026™

The Weekly Update 07/24/2026™ Beyond Summer My last 44 summers have all been about the same. The Big Desk, money manager of trillions, head to the beaches of the world for a break. The stock exchanges of the world see a rather dramatic...

The Weekly Update 07/17/2026™

The Weekly Update 07/17/2026™ Written by Brad Cooke CFP, (Jim's business partner and Son-in-Law) Politics Attention in US politics remains focused on the November 2026 midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress for the...

The Weekly Update 07/10/2026™

FEAR IS DEEP! Per this chart from the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII), dated June 30, 2026, 68.60% of investors polled are not bullish, (Positive) on the investment outlook for the next six months. You know what...

The Weekly Update 07/03/2026™

The Weekly Update 07/03/2026™ A Peek Around The Corner! There appears to be more good news ahead, but you would never know it if you saw the first chart below! After nearly five weeks of the valuations of Corporate America, as...

The Weekly Update 6/26/2026™

The Weekly Update 6/26/2026™ We Made It Through Everything! As long time readers know, I have been in the financial advisory chair for a very long time. I feel blessed to have had a front row seat as I have watched the Dow Jones...

The Weekly Update 6/19/2026™

The Weekly Update 6/19/2026™ Written by Brad Cooke CFP, (Jim's business partner and Son-in-Law) The Cooke Compass is a monthly update where geopolitical events, US political news, and general market updates are provided for those...

The Weekly Update 6/12/2026™

The Weekly Update 6/12/2026™ The two charts below represent The Fear and Greed Index for June 4th, 2026, and June 9th, 2026. There was a weekend between the two, so this represents a two-business day swing from 54, a “neutral”...

The Weekly Update 5/29/2026™

The Weekly Update 5/29/2026™ OFF The Chart! Over the last two years I have written in Sign #6, (Corporate Earnings per Share), of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ to expect much higher earnings for Corporate America than what was...

The Weekly Update 6/5/2026™

The Weekly Update 6/5/2026™ Wow…Read ‘em and Reap: Last week's latest AAII sentiment data is in the graphic above from AAII. Still more bears (negative outlook) than bulls (positive outlook) - on the week that marked the 21st new...

The Weekly Update 5/15/2026™

The Weekly Update 5/15/2026™ “Don’t Sell in May or Go Away!” My bottom line: equities remain in an uptrend as long as oil stays roughly within $5 to $10 of current levels ($105 to $110 per barrel). A more severe oil shock would...

The Weekly Update 5/08/2026™

The Weekly Update 5/08/2026™ Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). We all did it at the pool when we were kids – that is, try to hold our respective...

The Weekly Update 5/01/2026™

The Weekly Update 5/01/2026™ Largest Economy Ever on Earth and Growing!All the goods and services we produce as a country are measured as our Gross Domestic Product, GDP. The chart below is from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis...

The Weekly Update 4/24/2026™

The Weekly Update 4/24/2026™ What a Week! All-time record highs, accompanied by the following: AAII fears – at levels seen after months of sellingInvestors Intelligence (Advisor sentiment) deep in fearNAAIM invested levels well below...

The Weekly Update 4/17/2026™

A reason to consider adding cash to your bigger financial future investment accounts, in two simple charts. This first chart is from your Yardeni Research, and it charts 2026 financial earnings

The Weekly Update 4/10/2026™

The Weekly Update 4/10/2026™ The Quiet Is Deafening!And just like that, the valuations of Corporate America, as measured by the S&P 500, are within 5% of all-time highs!In last month’s update of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™...

The Weekly Update 4/3/2026™

The Weekly Update 4/3/2026™This is How Opportunity Feels!In the “Special” Weekly Update I sent you on 3/13/2026, (Read it Here), I included the Fear Versus Greed Index hitting 26. Pure Fear is 0 to pure Greed at 100. Below 25 is...

The Weekly Update 3/27/2026™

The Weekly Update 3/27/2026™In the chart below The American Association of Individual Investors (AAII), sentiment chart hit 52% last week, significantly above the 38 year average. This measures investors who expect lower stock prices...

The Weekly Update 3/20/2026™

The Weekly Update 3/20/2026™The Lie of Omission!Of all the news sources I browse, not one presented a chart of data like the one below.Why?It is likely because it tells the observer, plain as day, that we don’t need the oil we used to...

The “Special” Weekly Update 3/13/2026™

The “Special” Weekly Update 3/13/2026™Here We Go Again; PURE FEARThis will count as only the third “Special Update” I have ever sent! Each of the two sent prior to this one, which you can read them in the links below, offered a rare...

The Weekly Update 3/6/2026™

The Weekly Update 3/6/2026™What Does This Mean?In the February Edition of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™, under Sign #7, I made special note that per Truflation, (a source I know and trust), the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI)...

The Weekly Update 2/27/2026™

The Weekly Update 2/27/2026™News: "BAD"Facts: "GREAT"You have likely seen the business news over the last several weeks. If so, you read garbage like this:Capital Markets “closed lower”. “sank” or “are back in the Red”S. Gross Domestic...

The Weekly Update 2/20/2026™

The Weekly Update 2/20/2026™ 89% vs 11% Beats 50% vs 50%!In college I really enjoyed statistics classes. I took every one offered, either as a requirement or as an elective. They got me with the silly question of ….“If you flip a coin...

The Weekly Update 2/13/2026™

The Weekly Update 2/13/2026™ “As goes January, so goes the year” January’s equity market performance has historically served as a seasonal indicator, with the “January Barometer” suggesting that early year momentum often carries...

The Weekly Update 2/06/2026™

The Weekly Update 2/06/2026™The Weekly Update 2/06/2026™ Buy Any Dips: AKA “BAD”I created The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ from independent source sited and fact-based economic data points. Over the two decades I tracked economic...

The Weekly Update 1/30/2026™

The Weekly Update 1/30/2026™ Disinflation!The chart above is sourced from the TrueNetwork, who I happen to know, and I trust this independent data source. As you can see, the current inflation rate is running at 1.21%, which is...

The Weekly Update 1/23/2026™

The Weekly Update 1/23/2026™Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). Headlines of potential short-term speedbumps are making the news and doing their best to...

The Weekly Update 1/16/2026™

The Weekly Update 1/16/2026™ Problems Problems are usually magnified in mid-term election years. Problems like too much government debt, Social Security, nagging and persistent inflation, interest rates not going down as intended,...

The Weekly Update 1/09/2026™

The Weekly Update 1/09/2026™ Afraid of What! If the title above seems familiar, it should, as it was the title I used for The Weekly Update on 11/14/2025! (Read it Here)In the 11/14/2025 issue I was referring to the “knock the lights...

The Weekly Update 1/1/2026™

The Weekly Update 1/1/2026™The 2026 U.S. Economy! A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words. I am interested in your thoughts, comments, and observations. Feel welcome to call, email, or stop by the office and say Hi.Respectfully,James O....

The Weekly Update 12/26/2025™

The Weekly Update 12/26/2025™ Our Economy for 2026 In a Picture As you in read in this month’s update of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ (Read it Here), please take a moment to reflect back on all the news items, research...

The Weekly Update 12/19/2025™

The Weekly Update 12/19/2025™ NOISEThe earnings (profits) of Corporate America are the root cause of valuations trending up or down, over time. As I wrote in this month’s edition of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ on page 3...

The Weekly Update 12/12/2025™

The Weekly Update 12/12/2025™ Exactly, Where Is That Recession? It has now been over three years (September 2022), since JPMorgan CEO, Jamie Diamond was quoted during an interview about the coming recession, “There is the recession,...

The Weekly Update 12/05/2025™

The Weekly Update 12/05/2025™ Just a few weeks ago in the piece I wrote as The Weekly Update for 11-21-2025, I presented the level of fear (negative outlook) in the Fear Greed Index was near the most extreme level (Read it Here). Like...

The Weekly Update 11/26/2025

The Weekly Update 11/26/2025™ “The Wealth Strategies Group would like to thank you for your trust and confidence and wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving”. Respectfully, James O. Lunney, CFP® CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™...

The Weekly Update 11/21/2025™

The Weekly Update 11/21/2025™ News Nonsense Got You Down? For most of us, the answer is YES, and my guess is it will end soon! How do I know, soon? Take a look at the Bull (positive outlook) versus Bear (negative outlook) Index below....

The Weekly Update 11/14/2025™

The Weekly Update 11/14/2025™ And it is growing at a very healthy +4.00% per year! Do you know what it takes to grow a $30+ trillion economy at +4.00% per year? Me either, but whatever it is it must be solid and BIG! And the revenues...

The Weekly Update 11/07/2025™

The Weekly Update 11/07/2025™ In last weeks edition of The Weekly Update, I shared detail from Zacks Research on the Annual Revenue Growth and Annual Earnings Growth Rate for Corporate America as measured by the S&P 500 (Read it Here)...

The Weekly Update 10/31/2025™

The Weekly Update 10/31/2025™ Barnburner Earnings Season Is Here! Market valuations, as you know, are primarily driven by the ability to earn profits in the companies of Corporate Americas. As of 10/28/2025, about 1/3 of the S&P 500...

The Weekly Update 10/24/2025™

The Weekly Update 10/24/2025™ Fear Versus Reality The updates you read here each week have been consistently positive on our economy, the outlook going forward as well as the trend of investment markets. I know that can be boring when...

The Weekly Update 10/17/2025

The Weekly Update 10/17/2025™ The Cavalry May Already Be Here! You may choose to listen to your favorite business news, or news in general, but please do it for entertainment not information from which you would make an important...

The Weekly Update 10/10/2025™

The Weekly Update 10/10/2025™ “Bubble!” The word of the day is Bubble! It seems like the sources everywhere are reporting the valuations of Corporate America, as measured by the S&P 500, are so high that they appear to be a bubble that...

The Weekly Update for 10/03/25

The Weekly Update 10/03/2025™ More All Time High Valuations! As you have read here over the last several years, the profits of Corporate America are the key driver of market valuations. How are these profits doing? Excellent! Below is...

The Weekly Update 9/26/2025™

The Weekly Update 9/26/2025™ Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). The AAII Sentiment Survey is a survey to gauge where the general public feels the stock...

The Weekly Update 9/19/2025™

The Weekly Update 9/19/2025™ Afraid of What?Afraid of What? In the September 2025 edition of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ (Read it Here), I wrote in detail about Mr. & Mrs. 401(K) being net sellers of their shares of...

The Weekly Update 9/12/2025™

The Weekly Update 9/12/2025™ The Recession That Didn’t Recess! I came across the chart below from LSEG DataStream and the Yardeni Research website. It is a perfect graphic for the probability of an economic recession occurring. Notice...

The Weekly Update 9/05/2025™

The Weekly Update 9/05/2025™ $30,000,000,000 and Climbing! As time stamped in the purple box in the chart below, our U.S. Economy is now clicking higher than $30 trillion. Just FYI, that recession prediction that has been in the press...

The Weekly Update 8/29/2025™

The Weekly Update 8/29/2025™ The Common Denominator! For almost any company of Corporate America, the valuation of that company is based on how much money they earn. If my Kool-Aid Stand has profits of $1 and yours has $10, it is...

The Weekly Update 8/22/2025

The Weekly Update 8/22/2025™ Change Is Not Unusual, Just Uncomfortable! In The Weekly Update I wrote for 8-1-2025 (Read it Here), I detailed how August and September are the two worst performing months of the twelve. Don’t let air...

The Weekly Update 8/15/2025™

The Weekly Update 8/15/2025™ So Much Better Than Expected! In The Weekly Update I wrote and posted to TWSG website on 6/27/2025, (Read it Here), I presented a graphic on the Quarterly Earnings and Revenue Growth for the S&P 500 from...

The Weekly Update 8/08/2025™

The Weekly Update 8/08/2025™ Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). The Federal Reserve’s mandate is to pursue full employment and stable prices as an...

The Weekly Update 8/01/2025

The Weekly Update 8/01/2025™ No One is Bullish Enough! In this month’s update of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy July 2025™, under Sign #6 (S&P 500 Earnings Per Share) I wrote and used charts to explain that “Corporate America is...

The Weekly Update 7/25/2025

The Weekly Update 7/25/2025™ And That Is All You Need To Know! In chart #1 below, notice productivity per worker rests at an all-time high! I feel like a broken record as I write and say in our monthly Seven Signs of a Changing...

The Weekly Update 7/18/2025

The Weekly Update 7/18/2025™ What Fear and Greed Look Like! In the April 2025 update for The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™, (Read it Here), under Sign #2, I presented the Fear verses Greed chart below. Just a mere three months ago...

The Weekly Update 7/11/2025

The Weekly Update 7/11/2025™ Fact versus FictionThe chart below is measuring the Price to Earnings Ratio, (P/E Ratio) for the Equal Weighted Standard and Poor’s 500 companies. A P/E Ratio is a commonly accepted measure of risk. The...

The Weekly Update 7/4/2025

The Weekly Update 7/4/2025™ Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). Since the beginning of time there has been scary events in the world, negative news, and...

The Weekly Update 6/27/2025

The Weekly Update 6/27/2025™ Focus! As we all enjoy a few summer sunsets let’s not lose our focus on what is happening under all those scary headlines. Despite all the negative business news, and media in general, Corporate America is...

The Weekly Update 6/20/2025™

The Weekly Update 6/20/2025™ Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). Source: Fisher Investments Fun fact: Every bear market has been followed by a bull...

The Weekly Update 6/13/2025

The Weekly Update 6/13/2025™ It Only Took Two Years! For nearly two years I have printed the trend of our inflation rate under Sign #7 (Inflation/Deflation) in our monthly client update, The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™. For the...

The Weekly Update 6/6/2025

The Weekly Update 6/6/2025™ “It’s The Consumer Driving Our Economy”! Sign #1 of “The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™” is the most economically impactful of the Seven. Long time readers know that per J.P. Morgan Guide to the Markets,...

The Weekly Update 5/30/2025

The Weekly Update 5/30/2025™ My Kool-Aid Stand If you and I each have a Kool-Aid stand, aka, a business, the key driver of its’ valuation out in the marketplace is how much it earns, its’ profits. The average earnings estimate for the...

The Weekly Update 5/23/2025

The Weekly Update 5/23/2025™ Patience Required Back in the early 1980’s the generation of people we refer to as the 78 million “Baby Boomers” started to hit the peak of their spending years, roughly age 50-55. The Economy expanded...

The Weekly Update 5/16/2025

The Weekly Update 5/16/2025™ I Love This Chart! The Chart below is the eight-week moving average of the American Association of Individual Investors Sentiment poll for investors who are bullish (positive) on the investment outlook for...

The Weekly Update 5/9/2025

The Weekly Update 5/9/2025™ “The Doom and Gloom Loop” With such chaotic policy announcements out of D.C., visibility of what to expect over the next several months creates a constant sense of unpredictability and that erodes confidence...

The Weekly Update 5/2/2025

The Weekly Update 5/2/2025™ “This is What I Meant!” Do you remember all those times you read in these Weekly Updates and in The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™, these words, “Pray for a Correction” Well, this is it and I have the...

The Weekly Update 4/25/2025

The Weekly Update 4/25/2025™ Our news sources seem to be fixed on the tariff war and how it will cause a recession where we all die cold in the dark. The press reports over and over about how consumer sentiment is in the tank and...

The Weekly Update 4/18/2025

The Weekly Update 4/18/2025™ Volatility Is In The Drivers Seat, But Opportunity Is Riding Shotgun! Tariff talk is causing a round of heartburn for the capital markets, simply because we don’t know what impact they will have on our...

Special Update of The Weekly Update 4/07/2025

Special Update of The Weekly Update 4/07/2025™ Pure Fear There is a great deal of fear in the investor world today! The fear of a tariff war pushing the U.S. economy into a recession is the core cause. You can see the fear level in the...

The Weekly Update 4/04/2025™

The Weekly Update 4/04/2025 Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). In only a few weeks, the broader market has gone from record highs to correction...

The Weekly Update 3/28/2025

The Weekly Update 3/28/2025 We Have All Seen This Movie Before! Most of us have a favorite movie that we watched a second time. Sometimes the movie is fun to watch, yet not as exciting, emotional, happy or sad as the first time. Pasted...

03/21/2025

The Weekly Update 3/21/2025 Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). There has been a lot of conversation swirling around about the Federal Reserve’s stance...

The Weekly Update 3/14/2025

A Timely Re-Issue of 5 Year Money from 1/7/2022 The Weekly Update 3/14/2025 “Five Year Money!” For the last few years, I have been suggesting that our WSG client family only entrust assets to our oversight that we refer to as five-year...

The Weekly Update 3/7/2025

The Weekly Update 3/07/2025 PURE FEAR The chart above from The American Association of Individual Investor, AAII, from 2/27/2025 paints a picture of investor fear! We now rest at fear levels at just about the same as September 2022...

The Weekly Update 2/28/2025

The Weekly Update 2/28/2025 I am interested in your thoughts, comments, and observations. Feel welcome to call, email, or stop by the office and say Hi. Respectfully, James O. Lunney, CFP® CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional...

The Weekly Update 2/21/2025

You might enjoy this update from my friend Mike Williams at Truvestments: Thank the Lord above tonight in your prayers for this stage being set. Further, consider this: With only 28% bullish, it means 72% of the audience does NOT like...

The Weekly Update 2/14/2025

The Weekly Update 2/14/2025 Highest Earnings Ever! The earnings per share for Corporate America are hitting their sixth straight quarter of positive earnings growth! Economists’ consensus earnings’ growth for the S&P 500 are at +12%...

The Weekly Update 2/7/2025

The Weekly Update 2/07/2025 Interest Rates are the Problem! Let’s take a look under the hood at that statement! Bond prices increase or decrease in reaction to interest rate movements. In the chart below, Truevestments has graphed bond...

The Weekly Update 1/31/2025

The Weekly Update 1/31/2025 Release and Catch! As a youngster growing up on a feed lot outside of Fort Shaw, Montana, fly fishing was a fun hobby. Of course, we would keep a few to fry but for the most part it was “catch and release”....

The Weekly Update 1/24/2025

The Weekly Update 1/24/2025 Just Like 1985 Only Bigger! Back in the early 1980’s the generation of people we refer to as the 78 million “Baby Boomers” started to hit the peak of their spending years, roughly age 50-55. The Economy...

The Weekly Update 1/17/2025

Inflation Is Not Back! It has become the new economic thing for everyone to hold their breath right before the next inflation report is released. Of course, like many things’ investors worry about today, most of it is just made-up hype...

The Weekly Update 1/10/2025

The Weekly Update 1/10/2025 The Number One Driver of Our Economy As you know from reading our monthly update, The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™, Sign #1, is Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE). Per J.P. Morgan PCE represents...

The Weekly Update 1/01/2025

The 2025 U.S. Economy! A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words. I am interested in your thoughts, comments, and observations. Feel welcome to call, email, or stop by the office and say Hi. Respectfully, James O. Lunney, CFP® CERTIFIED...

The Weekly Update 12/27/2024

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! From: Jim, Elaine, Brittany, Brad, Mark, Lori & Michale Respectfully, James O. Lunney, CFP® CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered...

The Weekly Update 12/13/2024

The Weekly Update 12/13/2024 The Presidential Election Cycle The Presidential Election Cycle is also known as the “four year cycle” and refers to a four year pattern in the value of Corporate America, as measured by the S&P 500. The...

The Weekly Update 12/06/2024

The Weekly Update 12/06/2024 Better and Better! As we left the Third quarter of 2024 (3Q2024), the earnings (profits) of Corporate America got so good and so far ahead of the negative slowdown predictions that the business media...

The Weekly Update 11/29/2024

The Weekly Update 11/29/2024 Too High to Buy?! As we started into the 3Q2024 earnings season for Corporate America, economists were preciding +2-3% growth. Not sure how you keep your job when you are off by 400%, but I digress! Per...

The Weekly Update 11/22/2024

The Weekly Update 11/22/2024 Prepare For Lift Off!

The Weekly Update 11/15/2024

The Weekly Update 11/15/2024 Comparing Notes to 11/17/2023 “Rocket Fuel” In The Weekly Update dated 11/17/2023, pasted in below, I asked you to “print it and put it in your file to look at one year from today”. At the time Sign #2,...

The Weekly Update 11/8/2024

The Weekly Update 11/08/2024 Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). As you can imagine, we have recently received a decent amount of questions around market...

The Weekly Update 11/01/2024

The Weekly Update 11/01/2024 Corporate America is Smarter Than Politics Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few years you have heard your news source tell you how bad things are in our economy. Of course you have read...

The Weekly Update 10/25/2024

The Weekly Update 10/25/2024 Fiction versus Reality If you were to go back and review the top news headlines of the last five years you might rightfully find yourself depressed. The media, it seems, will do almost “anything” to grab...

The Weekly Update 10/18/2024

The Weekly Update 10/18/2024 Still Scared Last week I came across an indicator I had not seen before. It is an investor sentiment indicator created by Charles Schwab Corporation. It is created from their client’s activity. Unlike the...

The Weekly Update 10/11/2024

The Weekly Update 10/11/2024 Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). Since 1950, the month September has had an average decline of -0.7%. The past four...

The Weekly Update 10/4/2024

The Weekly Update 10/04/2024 What Didn’t Happen? As I have shared with you for the last few months, and most recently in The Weekly Update for September 20, 2024 (Read it Here) and September 27, 2024 (Read it Here), September has...

The Weekly Update 9/27/2024

The Weekly Update 9/27/2024 Where you should focus your attention NOW! About twice a day someone asks for my take on the upcoming Presidential Election. My standard reply is that “no one knows the future, not even me!” However, I have...

The Weekly Update 9/20/2024

The Weekly Update 9/20/2024 Right after valuations did that cliff dive the first week of August (2024), I saw this on Dr. Ed Yardeni’s website: “Insider buying perked up considerably in last week’s market weakness. Excluding faux...

The Weekly Update 9/13/2024

The Weekly Update 9/13/2024 Read This One! We have just hit “air pocket” number one, and I would bet there are a few more to go, as noted in The Weekly Update on 8/30/2024 (Read it Here). Perhaps I should just trademark “Fear Pockets”...

The Weekly Update 9/6/2024

The Weekly Update 9/6/2024 The St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank releases a monthly report titled “Personal Current Taxes”. This is one piece of anecdotal evidence I look at each month to measure the health of our consumers. We want...

The Weekly Update 8/30/2024

The Weekly Update 8/30/2024 How About The Federal Debt Level, Jim? In last weeks issue of The Weekly Update (Read it Here), I mentioned that we could hit a few “air pockets” as we approach the Presidential election on November 5th,...

The Weekly Update 8/23/2024

The Weekly Update 8/23/2024 “Better Than Expected!” For the last several years you have read and heard me suggesting you will continue to read and hear that term more and more as we move forward, “Better that Expected!” You pick any...

The Weekly Update 8/16/2024

The Weekly Update 8/16/2024 Where Is That Recession? For over two years our business news has been warning us about the coming recession. What I have named “The Recession That Didn’t Recess™”. In 1974 U.S. economist Julius Shiskin...

The Weekly Update 8/09/2024

The Weekly Update 8/09/2024 Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). If you were stopped at a stop light and waited for a minute before your turn to go, you...

The Weekly Update 8/02/2024

The Weekly Update 8/02/2024 Fear Levels Remain Elevated! As of July 30th, 2024, The Fear and Greed Index remains solidly in the “Fear” zone at 39 out of 100. Just one week ago this gauge of fear rested in the “Greed” zone at 54 and one...

The Weekly Update 7/26/2024

The Weekly Update 7/26/2024 Summer Doldrums = Volatility Money Flow volumes tend to greatly reduce in the summer. This tends to create volatility both up and down in valuations. Just be mentally aware of this reality, so you don’t let...

The Weekly Update 7/19/2024

The Weekly Update 7/19/2024 Interest Rate Cut Likely in September! Since late last year I have been sharing the data around housing costs and that housing alone represents nearly 40% of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The June Core CPI...

The Weekly Update 7/12/2024

The Weekly Update 7/12/2024 Asymmetrical Times In the first chart below notice as a country, we now have the largest ever balance in money market funds! Over $6 trillion! And that does not include over $20 trillion additional in...

The Weekly Update 7/5/2024

The Weekly Update 7/5/2024 Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). Would you go to Vegas if you knew you had a 90+% probability of winning over time? I...

The Weekly Update 6/28/2024

The Summer Doldrums! Over the last several months you have read and listened to me suggest the top 6 Big-Tech names were pushing the valuations of Indexes like the S&P 500 higher and that under those big-name movers, not a lot was...

The Weekly Update 6/21/2024

The Weekly Update 6/21/2024 Summer Solstice Aahhh! The one day of the year with the most sunlight, and my birthday! The summer doldrums, as we refer to as the lazy days, are finally here! This is the part of the year where trading...

The Weekly Update 6/14/2024

It is not a surprise to readers of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ to hear the earnings of Corporate America are coming in better, higher, and stronger than expected. Hmmm, who would have seen that coming?! Ha! We are soon to...

The Weekly Update 6/7/2024

The Weekly Update 6/07/2024 In the first quarter of 2024 the earnings of Corporate America once again were fantastic! Why is this never, as in ever, in/on our news sources?! Yes, a rhetorical question! Of the 481 S&P 500 companies to...

The Weekly Update 5/31/2024

In the first five months of 2024 we have seen markets achieve all-time highs and subsequently retreat thereafter. Markets don’t go up in a straight line – increases and new records are attained through ebbs and flows over time. The...

The Weekly Update 5/24/2024

The Weekly Update 5/24/2024 The Recession That Didn’t Recess™ There is an old joke about two mobsters in the insurance company claims office. Shortly after they are there a non-mobster type guy walks in. While waiting to write their...

The Weekly Update 5/17/2024

The Weekly Update 5/17/2024 Long time readers of “The Weekly Update” know I am particularly fond of trends. Trends tend to tone down the noise around single data parts. Below I have listed earnings for Corporate America, as measured by...

The Weekly Update 5/10/2024

The Weekly Update 5/10/2024 The chart below is sourced from The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and created by Califia. It is a graphic of our inflation rate year over year since 1970. You may recall that just last Friday (May 3,...

The Weekly Update 05/03/2024

The Weekly Update 5/03/2024 What Fear Looks Like! The chart below covers a full two decades! It is a chart from Barchart.com that measures the percent of companies in Corporate America that are above or below their 20-day moving...

The Weekly Update 4/26/2024

The Weekly Update 4/26/2024 A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words! If you were to read the piece, I wrote for last month's update of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy ™, (read it here) you would know I am very positive on both the...

The Weekly Update 4/19/2024

The Weekly Update 4/19/2024 The valuations of Corporate America as measured by the S&P 500 are off to a very nice start in 2024. Since the current up trend started in November of 2023, last week (4/8/24-4/12/24) was only the 6th down...

The Weekly Update 4/12/2024

The Weekly Update 4/12/2024 The Recession That Didn’t Recess! ™ The recession that has been predicted for over a few years has still not shown up. In fact, I would argue the opposite is true, i.e. economic expansion. Below is a graph...

The Weekly Update 4/5/2024

The Weekly Update 4/5/2024 Written by Brittany Jarocki CFP, (Jim's business partner, daughter and the succession plan Jim hopes he never needs). If you haven’t heard of the AI (artificial intelligence) craze by now I have to assume you...

The Weekly Update 3/29/2024

The Weekly Update 3/29/2024 Soon, we will once again be discussing the concept of “Sell in May and Go Away”! Then right on its heels will be the dreaded “Summer Doldrums”! If we are lucky enough to get the reasonable “back and fill” I...

The Weekly Update 3/22/2024

The Weekly Update 3/22/2024 Inflation versus Valuations In last month’s update of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™, (read it here), under Sign #7, (inflation, deflation and GDP), we discussed the significant drop in our U.S....

The Weekly Update 3/15/2024

The Weekly Update 3/15/2024   Gut Check Since I wrote the November 2023 WSG monthly update of the Seven Signs of a Changing Economy, (read it here), on 11/01/2023, the valuations of Corporate America are up approximately +18.09%...

The Weekly Update 3/8/2024

The Weekly Update 3/8/2024    In the November 2023 issue of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™, under Sign #2 (read it here) I wrote: Since 1950, the six-month period of November through April are the best...

The Weekly Update 3/1/2024

The Weekly Update 3/1/2024   Fiction versus Facts!   Unfortunately, last night I walked through our front room while Elaine had the “news” on and as I walked past, I heard two lies being told by the low I.Q....

The Weekly Update 2/23/2024

The Weekly Update 2/23/2024 After the negative and volatile year Corporate America experienced in 2022, it is necessary to take a moment to zoom out and look at the bigger picture. While it was painful to those who experienced it, we...

The Weekly Update 2/16/2024

The Weekly Update 2/16/2024   That could be a BGO!   February is usually one of the poorest performing months of the twelve.  In prior election years February has traditionally been a downer. This year February has been...

The Weekly Update 2/09/2024

The Weekly Update 2/09/2024   If you don’t recall reading The Weekly Update for 11/03/2023, you might have missed the three key reasons I suggested the values of Corporate America were about to turn higher quickly.  But...

The Weekly Update 2/02/2024

The Weekly Update 2/02/2024   “The End of The Story”   You won’t see the headline below in your business news because I just made it up!  “Jerome Powell’s Federal Reserve Succeeded!”...

The Weekly Update 1/26/2024

     The chart above highlights the top 10 years that are most correlated to 2023 based on their weekly return progression. As you can see, 1955 and 1985 are the closest comparisons, both with a correlation of 0.89....

The Weekly Update 1/19/2024

The Weekly Update 1/19/2024   The press, along with a few newsletters, have created “the next monster”.  Remember, the press has two, maybe twelve, new monsters they invent to sell stuff by keeping your eyeballs...

The Weekly Update 1/12/2024

The Weekly Update 1/12/2024   I am not sure why, but lately I have had a number of client family questions wanting to find out what I am thinking about all that consumer debt.  The same consumer debt the coneheads on your...

The Weekly Update 1/5/2024

The Weekly Update 1/05/2024   Two Years of Nowhere!   For the last year you have read in The Weekly Update™ and The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™, how I have compared 2022-2023 to 1994-1995. Back in 1994-1995...

The Weekly Update 12/29/2023

The Weekly Update 12/29/2023   Yes, 2024 could be a very happy New Year! Never, in your life have you been able to say, “there is over $200 billion of manufacturing construction happening in the USA”, but very quietly...

The Weekly Update 12/22/2023

The Weekly Update 12-22-2023 In every 2023 issue of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™, I have written under Sign #2, Inflation/Deflation and GDP, how inflation was dropping like a rock.  Research firm LSEG Datastream...

The Weekly Update 12/15/2023

The Weekly Update 12/15/2023      Written by Brittany Jarocki There’s no question that everyone was aware of the housing boom that happened from 2020-2022. Not only were people scrambling to purchase any home they...

The Weekly Update 12/08/2023

The Weekly Update 12/08/2023   Onshoring Graphic   By now, I think we have all heard that Corporate America is bringing much of the manufacturing process back to the USA.  This is often referred to in the news as...

The Weekly Update 12/01/2023

The Weekly Update 12/01/2023   “The Roaring 20’s, Version 2.0”   The Recession we have been told is right there, look at it, has not arrived after two long years. What most investors have completely missed...

The Weekly Update for 11/22/2023

The Weekly Update 11/17/2023

The Weekly Update 11/17/2023 Rocket Fuel   Today you will receive an email from The Wealth Strategies Group with the monthly update for The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™.  Sign #2, Money Flow is so good that I have...

The Weekly Update 11/10/2023

The Weekly Update 11/10/2023 Good News!   If you browse your favorite news source, you will likely come away with thoughts and supposed facts, of how bad the investment markets are. Bad investor sentiment High stress levels...

The Weekly Update 11/3/2023

The Weekly Update 11/3/2023 “He Who Sells What Isn’t His’n Must Buy It Back Or Go To Pris’n.”  Daniel Drew on Selling Short, late 1800’s.   A Short Sale is when someone thinks a...

The Weekly Update 10/27/2023

The Weekly Update 10/27/2023 The Fed Has “Spooked” The Herd That is about all I have for this scary Halloween weekly update! If you think this scary October market is different from Octobers before it, just know it is not!...

The Weekly Update 10/20/2023

The Weekly Update 10/20/2023 Minus seven companies, the valuations are down! As we started this week of October 16, 2023, the valuation of Corporate America, as measured by the S&P 500, is up +12.65% year to date (YTD). Is it really!...

The Weekly Update 10/13/2023

The Weekly Update 10/13/2023 68.30% For those of you who have been reading these updates for years, you know that the above, 68.30% is the percentage of our entire economy derived from Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE). ...

The Weekly Update for 10/6/2023

The Weekly Update 10/6/2023 Knock, Knock! As we close out September 2023 Corporate America, as measured by the S&P 500, made a lower low for 9 days straight! So, fear in the air once again.  Here is a snapshot of the Fear & Greed...

The Weekly Update 9/29/2023

The Weekly Update 9/29/2023 Interesting Times In the September 2023 update for the Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ (read it here), only two signs remain negative, The Leading Economic Index Sign #3 and Durable Goods Spending...

The Weekly Update 9/22/23

The Weekly Update 9/22/2023 Bad news is bad news, but good news is also bad news! It is a rare time in the news media, as most everything is being presented as negative news. Perhaps this is a good time to review the things that...

The Weekly Update 9/15/2023

The Weekly Update 9/15/2023 When we printed the July update for The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™, money flowing in had pushed the S&P 500 into a “bullish” (positive) performance trend.  It did this by...

The Weekly Update 9/8/23

The Weekly Update 9/8/2023 The Wall of Money! Very quietly the U.S. Government has passed several economic stimulus acts.  Specifically, The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), The Chips and Science Act (CSA) and the Infrastructure...

The Weekly Update 9/1/23

The Weekly Update 9/1/2023 This week’s edition of “The Weekly Update” is being written by Brittany Jarocki, CFP®.  Brittany is the succession plan I hope I never need (I intend to die at my desk at age 123),...

The Weekly Update for 8/25/2023

More Fed Speak! I am writing this edition of The Weekly Update on Wednesday, August 23, 2023, just a few days before Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has his press conference on Friday, August 25, 2023. It seems pretty easy to guess what he...

The Weekly Update for 8/18/2023

“Bad News”! It seems that each time I see or hear a news outlet, all I hear is bad news.  You may remember the recession talk started in early 2022, when we were technically in an actual recession, but I digress. The...

The Weekly Update for 8/11/2023

Inflation Fading, Profits Rising! It is a touch ironic that the same Corporate America that the financial news had falling off a cliff due to inflation continues to perform really well! Huh! Nothing in the news about the “good...

The Weekly Update for 8/4/2023

There has been a lot of heavy subject matter in the past few Financial Fitness write ups, so I decided to keep this one light. The summer months in the financial markets are also generally slow on data, so a perfect time for this. As...

The Weekly Update for 7/28/2023

WAIT FOR IT! A few years ago, I wrote several updates around the reality of “onshoring”.  Many U.S. companies from steel to technology were bringing their manufacturing processing back home to the U.S. That reality is...

The Weekly Update for 7/21/2023

Note to self, about the most positive (bullish) thing a market can do is go up!  There are many guidelines used as reference points in the asset management industry.  One is that markets tend to “officially” enter...

The Weekly Update for 7/14/2023

The Weekly Update 7/14/2023Below I have listed Sign #7 of July 2023’s Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ for your review.  It is very important to “see” inflation leaving while the economy continues to grow...

The Weekly Update for 7/7/2023

The Weekly Update for 6/29/2023

A Game of Chicken!The Conference Board is the creator of the Leading Economic Index (LEI), which is Sign #3 in our monthly update, The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™.  In May 2023 the LEI reported the 14th straight month...

The Weekly Update for 6/23/2023

The Weekly Update 6/23/2023In the June update of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy I did a deep dive into the declining trend in the core inputs to inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).  (Read it Here)There...

The Weekly Update for 6/16/2023

Be sure to take a moment to go to the WSG website and after clicking on my photo it will roll you to my methodology and philosophy.  In the verbiage are green links to the Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ and The Weekly...

The Weekly Update for 6/9/2023

Five Big Engines and 495 Cabooses!The S&P 500 is the most commonly accepted performance measuring index for Corporate America. YTD it is up about 10%.If you were to back out the top five, maybe six, large cap technology stocks the...

The Weekly Update for 6/2/2023

Have you ever heard the saying, “the days go by slowly, but the years fly by”? It’s the notion that if we focus on the “everyday” we can get caught up in minutia of daily details that may bog us down. But,...

The Weekly Update for 5/26/2023

“Better than Expected”…Done!In The Weekly Update for 5/5/2023 (Read it Here) I titled the issue “Better than Expected” and then detailed how, in my opinion, the earnings of Corporate America, as measured...

The Weekly Update for 5/18/2023

“Next Monster Please”In the Weekly Update for 4/21/2023 (Read it Here) I detailed that the next monster to scare the market would be the “debt ceiling” crisis.  Well, here we are about a month later and the...

The Weekly Update 5/12/2023

As a WSG family member, you will start to see small additions to your asset allocation as we tip toe slowly into our more positive investment positions.  As you will read below, we are not out of the economic woods, yet some of...

The Weekly Update for 5/5/2023

The Weekly Update 5/5/2023Surprise!  “Better Than Expected”In the piece I wrote for The Weekly Update on 4/7/4023 (Read it Here) I suggested that the 1Q2023 earnings season for Corporate America, as measured by the S&P...

The Weekly Update 4-28-2023

The Weekly Update 4/28/2023The graphic above shows the different account outcomes of four different types of systematic investors or savers. These four hypothetical people invest the same amount of money each month, but at different...

The Weekly Update 4/21/2023

Since I wrote The Weekly Update on 4/7/2023 (Read it Here) we have already seen many of the earnings headlines print just like I reported, “Better Than Expected”.As that earnings monster is being slayed, along with the...

The Weekly Update 4/14/2023

Money FlowIn January 2023 the Refinitiv Lipper U.S. Fund Flows reported -$4.21 billion out of U.S. mutual funds.  February and March piled on with -$14.6 billion and -$23.435 billion, respectively.The American Association of...

The Weekly Update for 4/7/2023

The Weekly Update 4/7/2023Better Than Expected!In last week’s update (3/31/2023), pasted in below, I listed some facts that we should look at one more time, as they are positive.Perhaps more importantly they suggest something we...

The Weekly Update for 3/31/2023

Today I returned from a long weekend to review "The News"!  Of course, all of the same old "monsters" were there!  BUT I could not find any of the real-life facts like these below in the news. Hmm…Markets...

The Weekly Update for 3/24/2023

Fed Speak!On Monday March 20,2023 I sent the piece below as part of a note to a long-time client.  It was around the expectations of what the Fed would do on 3/22/2023, which happens to be today, and is also the day I write The...

The Weekly Update 3/17/2023

Just when we thought the news could not get worse…!Over the next several months we will all learn together that the folks in charge of the now failed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank of New York were not all that good...

The Weekly Update 3/10/2023

During volatile times in the market, and even during less-volatile times, it is important to remember that there are some factors that are out of our control as both financial advisors and investors. Of course, it is much easier to...

The Weekly Update for 3/3/2023

The tug-of-war continues between the Leading Economic Index (LEI), which measures (via ten economic inputs) what our economic backdrop will be in six to nine months (September 2023 – December 2023) and our Gross Domestic Product...

The Weekly Update for 2/24/2023

Exhausting! We now find ourselves closing in on the end of the fourteenth month of this Bear (negative) market. Just like the Tech Wreck market from March of 2000 through October 2002 when I wrote the now...

The Weekly Update for 2/17/2023

On 10/29/2021 I wrote The Weekly Update titled “Inflation: A Look Back Could Help as We Look Forward” (Read it Here)In that update I detailed that money supply causes inflation and made the case that at that time it was far...

The Weekly Update 2/10/2023

My view of the current investment tug-of-war is that the future interest rate outlook is becoming more of a known.  The recession fear of how deep, and for how long, is getting less cloudy.Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell...

The Weekly Update for 2/3/2023

It is no question that staying invested during down-turns in the market can be a stomach-twisting endeavor for some people. The unfortunate thing is that most of these people tend to be the most scared and begin selling very close to...

The Weekly Update for 1/27/2023

“‘Tis the Season!”Corporate Earnings reporting season, that is!  And, as you would expect, get ready for scary headlines!As economists, analysists and talking heads stumble and bumble over every little word the...

The Weekly Update for 1/20/2023

Happy 2023!I hope you had a lovely holiday season and found time to relax, rejuvenate, and set new goals for 2023.The market volatility of 2022 was a roller coaster ride with enough ups, downs, twists, and turns to keep investors on...

The Weekly Update for 1/13/2023

It doesn’t make sense!The chart below is from the “Investors Intelligence Sentiment Survey” as of 1/3/2023.  The blue data flow is noisy, so focus on the red line.  It is the 52-week moving average and tends...

The Weekly Update for 1/6/2023

“NEVER” Before!The first chart below is also “a first”!Since data has been reported by the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII), back 36 years ago, there has NEVER been a period where...

The Weekly Update for 12/30/2022

The chart below is from Investors Intelligence.As you observe the five green circles around 1987, 1990, 1994-1995, 2008-2009 and 2016 it becomes obvious these were times of emotional stress, cloudy outlook, and emotional selling.In the...

The Weekly Update for 12/23/2022

In the December update of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ (Read it Here), I wrote under Sign #7 that the Producer Price Index (PPI) had crested and was starting to drop.The Producer Price Index (PPI) measures inflation at...

The Weekly Update for 12/16/2022

As you observe the data flow below, it would be fair for you to believe this cycle of inflation has peaked and is now rolling lower.  I believe that is true but don’t forget that even if the inflation inputs are going down,...

The Weekly Update for 12/9/2022

During our WSG Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ conference call last month, I introduced the name Nick Timiraos, Chief Economics Correspondent at the Wall Street Journal.  Nick’s forecast for what will happen next is...

The Weekly Update for 12/2/2022

Have you seen the following news headline in any pieces you read, programs you listen to or watch?“Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) up 5,929.74 points (+20.69%) in the last 34 trade sessions!”How about this...

The Weekly Update for 11/23/2022

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family from all of us at The Wealth Strategies Group!

The Weekly Update for 11/18/2022

The big, fat, black fly in the ointment! There! I said it!I am referring to our peek around the economic quarter six to nine months in the future, May 2023 – August 2023, The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI)...

The Weekly Update for 11/11/2022

This past Wednesday, November 2, 2022, the Federal Reserve again increased interest rates by another +.75%.  This is the third increase of +.75%.  This action is now the shortest and highest increase in history.  And,...

The Weekly Update for 11/4/2022

The year of 2022 will certainly remain in the history books for decades to come as one of the most volatile ever.  Our WSG structure, strategy and processes have done their job as I created them to do.  The tools I created...

The Weekly Update for 10/28/2022

The chart below was created on 10/21/2022 by All Star Charts.  It is reflecting the 4-week moving average of a few key Investor Sentiment indicators.On the top is the valuation or Corporate America, as measured by the S&P 500...

The Weekly Update for 10/21/2022

A historically popular indicator of future trends is the relationship between the 2-year and 10-year US Treasury rates.In a strong and growing economy, the 10-year rate would be higher than the 2-year rate. This is because looking...

The Weekly Update for 10/14/2022

Mr. and Mrs. 401(k) are slowly but steadily capitulating.  That is just a fancy word for “selling en masse” for no other reason than valuations continue to drop.This is how corrections tend to end, or as some of us...

The Weekly Update for 10/7/2022

“Five Year Money”Since I shared my concept of “Five Year Money” with you on January 7, 2022, the markets have launched a few volatility torpedoes our way.  We have “enjoyed” some of the...

The Weekly Update for 9/30/2022

The Smell of Fear!Like many things in life, the more things change, the more they stay the same.Below, I am pasting in a “Special Update” I sent our client family on 12/26/2018.  It is about our wicked smart engineer...

The Weekly Update for 9/23/2022

I am intentionally choosing to keep a larger, by a mile, than normal amount in the money market, i.e., won't go up but also won't go down in value.  As longer-term fixed income investments are a poor choice in an increasing...

The Weekly Update for 9/16/2022

Leading Economic Index (LEI)The Conference Board is the creator of The Leading Economic Index (LEI).  For almost fifty years they have tracked and reported on their ten key economic inputs with an exceptional record of accuracy...

The Weekly Update for 9/9/2022

“The Year over Year (YoY) Phenomenon”In the investment industry it is quite common to make comparisons between any given date versus twelve months prior, meaning a year over year measurement.It has now been over two years...

The Weekly Update for 9/2/2022

Like the Fear vs. Greed indicator the Bank of America has its version of the Fear Index, which they call the “BofA Bull & Bear Indicator”.“Bull” implies a positive outlook for market returns while...

The Weekly Update 8-26-22

The Weekly Update 8/26/2022Conflicting Data Points Continue!!The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Business Outlook Report below came in surprisingly positive.  As you can see in the news report dated 8-8-2022 below, expectations were...

The Weekly Update for 8/19/2022

There’s a saying in investing which states, “Even a dead cat bounces” in reference to a short-term reversal in trend. The context is saying that anything that is dropped from high enough will bounce. However, if the...

The Weekly Update for 8/12/2022

The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ Summer UpdateThe data flow tends to be slow in the summer, so like all prior Augusts, I pull the research inputs for the Seven Signs, but I don’t publish and email an August edition...

The Weekly Update for 8/5/2022

The Weekly Update 8/5/20222023 could be rewarding to the owners of Corporate America!Over the years I have often referred to the work of Ned Davis Research, because it is well documented, quantifiable and mostly accurate.As we are now...

The Weekly Update 7/29/2022

In the July update for The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy, I wrote that it would not be unexpected to see market values steady here.Through July and August, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to increase interest rates to...

The Weekly Update for 7/22/2022

In the July 2022 issue of The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ (Read it Here) I detailed how we could be clunking along the bottom of this bear market (negative) cycle.  In our client accounts, we continue to have heavy...

The Weekly Update for 7/15/2022

Since I started writing The Seven Signs of a Changing Economy™ updates, as the “tail” end data flow to my best-selling book, Surviving the Storm (McGraw-Hill 2007), fifteen years ago, there has always been an...

The Weekly Update for 7/8/2022

There are four phases of a market cycle – 1) Accumulation 2) Mark-up 3) Distribution 4) Decline.Accumulation Phase – this phase follows a decline and is where values of Corporate America are attractive and a good entry...

The Weekly Update for 7/1/2022

If you find the news headlines confusing, you would be normal.As an example, here are three headlines that hit News Watch on Friday, 6/24/2022 within seven minutes of each other.4:19 p.m.:         ...

The Weekly Update for 6/24/2022

                                    March 2020In The Weekly Update for 6/10/2022 (Read it Here) I presented this BofA Global Investment Strategy...

The Weekly Update for 6/17/2022

This is Important!If you are a long-time member of our WSG family, you might remember the monthly update I did back in October 2002, titled “The Wicked Witch is Dead”. (You can read it here)Of course, I was referencing the...

The Exit Strategy Update

The Exit Strategy Update!Over the last thirty years I have tracked many economists, indicators and data points looking for who, or what, was most correct in predicting what was "around the corner" for our investment...

The Weekly Update for 6/14/2019

The Wicked Witch is Dead…RevisitedIf you are a long-time client, you will likely recall a letter I sent on October 28, 2002.I titled it “The Wicked Witch is Dead”, as I was writing about the end of the “Tech...

The Weekly Update for 6/10/2022

For a baseline, let’s look over our shoulder to 2020 and remember the level of fear investors were feeling as the world started to close down due to Covid.                  ...

Is Recession Knocking on our Door?

Is a recession knocking on our door?This is a question that I have been asked both directly and indirectly over the past few weeks. Some folks have even self-determined that the economy is already in a recession.Let’s start with...

The Weekly Update for 6/3/2022

Angst Everywhere!In addition to the Three Contrarian Indicators I presented in The Weekly Update for 5/27/2022 (Read it here), I have more to add below:Clearly these measurements of investor fear suggest the air is thick with it!For...

The Weekly Update for 5/27/2022

The Weekly Update 5/27/2022In The Weekly Update for 5/13/2022 (Read it here), I presented a chart from Charlie Bilello, who I don’t know, where Charlie posted market performance after CNBC ran the segment, “Markets in...

The Weekly Update for 5/20/2022

The Weekly Update for 5/13/2022

The Weekly Update for 5/6/2022

The Weekly Update 4/29/2022

The Weekly Update for 4/22/2022

The Weekly Update for 4/15/2022

The Weekly Update for 9/18/2020

The Weekly Update 2/5/2021

The Weekly Update for 8/13/2021

The Weekly Update for 3/5/2021

The Weekly Update for 5/14/2021

The Weekly Update for 7/2/2021

The Weekly Update for 7/9/2021

The Weekly Update for 7/30/2021

The Weekly Update for 11/12/2021

The Weekly Update for 12/17/2021

The Weekly Update for 4/8/2022

The Weekly Update for 4/1/2022

The Weekly Update for 3/25/2022

The Weekly Update for 3/18/2022

The Weekly Update for 3/11/2022

The Weekly Update for 3/4/2022

The Weekly Update for 2/25/2022

The Weekly Update for 10/29/2021

The Weekly Update for 2/18/2022

The Weekly Update for 2/11/2022

The Weekly Update for 2/4/2022

The Weekly Update for 1/28/2022

The Weekly Update for 1/21/2022

The Weekly Update for 1/14/2022

The Weekly Update for 1/7/2022

The Weekly Update for 1/30/2021

Special Update 12/27/2018

It is likely not news to you that in the last 16 business days the valuations of Corporate America had a fast and vicious melt down. On 12/3/2018 the Valuations of Corporate America, as measured by the S&P 500, stood at 2,790.37. On...