Bond Market

State of Banking

The State of Banking: How Concerned Should We Be?

Three banks have made headlines in recent days, Silvergate Bank and its holding company Silvergate Capital Corp (NYSE: SI), Signature Bank (Nasdaq: SBNY), and most notably Silicon Valley Bank and its holding company SVB Financial Group (Nasdaq: SIVB).  Silvergate Bank is a major bank of the cryptocurrency community and announced on March 8, 2023 that it would be winding down operations with plans to liquidate voluntarily.[1]  On Friday, March 10, 2023 California banking regulators announced that the FDIC would take over the liquidation of Silicon Valley Bank holding company SVB Financial Group.[2]  On Sunday night, March 12, New York banking regulators announced that Signature Bank would be placed into receivership of the FDIC.[3]

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Market Outlook Winter 2023

At the start of every calendar year, we see the major financial institutions providing their ‘outlook’ for the markets. Usually, the outlooks are hedged by not being too divergent from consensus, but nonetheless, they all must predict something, knowing that if their thesis comes true, they can lay claim to have made the right call.

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Fall 2022 Market Outlook

Market Outlook Fall 2022

Yet another Market Outlook with a thousand moving parts. Patience is paramount now as we wait for each part to find its spot in this machine we call an economy. Right now, inflation is the problem, and interest
rates are the wrench of choice. The challenge is how hard will the wrench have to be torqued to get the desired results? Will the lug nut break, requiring a modified approach? Perhaps. In the end, we believe patience will be rewarded, and the laws of economic theory will eventually play out.

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I-Bonds

In the face of rising rates and inflationary pressures, inflation-protected US Savings bonds have become more mainstream.

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Market Outlook Summer 2022

Market Outlook Summer 2022

Double, double whammy. After two years of endless concern from a once-a-lifetime pandemic (let’s hope), and the clouds just starting to part, barely, we get hit with an unruly market bent on testing our already fragile mindsets; Double Whammy #1.
If this isn’t enough, let’s toss in inflation exhibiting the endurance of a marathon runner, coupled with rising interest rates increasing borrowing costs to businesses and consumers with higher rates on mortgages, car loans, credit cards, home equity and improvement loans, and personal loans of all types. When you can’t buy a new home, or a car, because of limited supply, now you can’t afford them from a budget perspective. Double Whammy #2.

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Spring 2022

Market Outlook Spring 2022

A bull in a china shop.

Thinking about the present state of the economy, the bull in a china shop metaphor pretty much sums up how markets, central banks, and investors are looking to the future—delicate steps.

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Market Insight: Focus on the Foundation

Market Insight: Focus on the Foundation Dylan Potter, CFP®, Vice President, Wealth Manager There are all kinds of combat tactics. Every segment of war, whether it’s on land, sea, or air, has tactics and techniques that are specific to that venue. However, at the point of execution – that moment when you engage with the enemy – the best tactics in the world will not make you successful if you haven’t put in the weeks, months, and years of training it takes to prepare for that unforgiving minute. You need the foundation.In training, it was our goal to push ourselves so

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People working high in the air on out side of skyscraper

Market Insights: Rate Hikes

On Thursday the Labor Department stated that January’s Consumer-Price Index—which measures what consumers pay for goods and services—reached its highest level since February 1982, on an annualized basis.

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Winter 2022

Market Outlook Winter 2022

On our minds for early 2022 are several things – the pandemic, interest rates, and inflation. These will all be critical, near-term influences on the markets. We will address each in this Outlook.

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Market Outlook Fall 2021

When we consider the past 20 months, not only the people of the world, but also the markets, have displayed considerable fortitude.

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