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Where we’ve been, and where we’re headed: Howe & Rusling celebrates its 90th anniversary!
In today’s video, learn about the importance of having a trusted contact on file with both Howe & Rusling and your custodian.
The first quarter of 2019 was certainly easier to stomach than the one prior in which we experienced a dramatic sell-off to finish 2018. Refreshingly, the S&P 500 Index finished the first quarter up over 13%, recouping nearly all of its losses from the fourth quarter (although it hasn’t quite cut through its 2018 high of 2929.67). This was actually the market’s best start to a year since 1998—and every sector brought in positive returns. Market performance is just one piece of the puzzle, though, so we look to the economic backdrop and the behavior of monetary and political policy
The fixed income markets certainly started off 2019 on the right foot. To use an old saying generally reserved for the month of March (though this is a quarterly commentary), the first quarter came in like a lion. The first two weeks of 2019 saw 10-year Treasury yields jump by over 20 basis points. And the first quarter went out… like a lion. Following the volatility that we saw in the last quarter of 2018 in risk assets (equities and non-Treasury securities) and the resulting flight to quality, the Federal Reserve’s attempt at calming the markets had an over-sized effect
The four most powerful words in the universe of bonds are “full faith and credit.” These words apply to government Treasury bills, notes, and bonds whose timely interest and principal payments are backed by an unconditional guarantee from the United States Government. Since Treasury securities are backed by the full faith and credit of the government, they are referred to as “risk free” securities. The government cannot default on its obligations, as it has the power to levy taxes or print more money to repay its debt. For this reason, the interest rate on the 10-Year Treasury note can act
John Trentacoste What a way to end a year. As the third quarter was ending, it seemed everyone was expecting yields to continue the slow ascent for the final three months of 2018. The Federal Reserve had just raised the overnight fed funds rate for the third time in September and a rate hike at their final meeting in December was all but a certainty. Bond investors were also thinking about and planning for further rate increases in 2019. That lasted for a few weeks into the fourth quarter, but as it turned out, many were unprepared for the bond
John Trentacoste Finishing the third quarter, we can all look back and remember it has been ten years since the financial crisis and the beginning of the Great Recession. On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers, what was then the fourth largest investment bank, filed for bankruptcy. Much of that event was occurring over the previous weekend, but at shortly after midnight, the filing set in motion a dramatic sell-off in the stock market and credit markets that froze as investors learned quickly just how interconnected the financial markets were at the time. And Lehman Brothers was not the only news
John Trentacoste I’d like to introduce our newest addition to our fixed income team, John Trentacoste, who has written the Bond Market Overview this quarter. There is an old saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It actually is an old saying. The interpretation we most recognize dates back to a French translation by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808-1890) who was a French novelist with a reputation of having a bitter wit.1 In thinking about the second quarter, what probably sticks in most memories was the volatility seen in the investment markets. An example would be
