The Uncomfortable Starting Point According to JP Morgan Private Bank, since mid-2008, the S&P 500 has returned an annualized 11.9 percent. The MSCI EAFE Index, which tracks developed markets outside the US and Canada, has returned 3.6 percent over the same period. That gap of roughly 8 percentage points per year, compounded across a decade […]
The S&P 500 has produced an average annual return of around 10% since 1928. It has also experienced 27 bear markets in that same period. Both facts are true. Reconciling them is what reading the market is really about. Why do markets sometimes fall on good news and rise on bad? Why does a 5%
What Is the Federal Reserve and How Does It Move Markets? The Fed announces a 0.25% rate change. Within minutes, stocks swing, bond yields jump, and your mortgage quote looks different than it did this morning. Nine people sitting around a table in Washington just rearranged trillions of dollars in global capital. Understanding how the
Recessions are not exceptional events but they are a permanent feature of the economic cycle. Since World War II the United States has experienced 12 recessions, averaging one every six years. Yet most investors only start thinking about recession protection after markets have already fallen significantly, when it is too late to act without locking
This was one of the most consequential weeks in financial markets in 2026. Four of the world’s largest technology companies reported earnings within 5 minutes of each other on Wednesday evening. The Federal Reserve held rates on what seems to be Jerome Powell final press conference as Fed Chair. Oil prices continued to hover near
Interest rates go up by half a percentage point. It sounds like a small technical adjustment made in a boardroom far removed from your daily life. But within weeks your mortgage payment is higher, your bond portfolio has lost value, and the stock market is wobbling. Interest rates are the single most powerful lever in
When financial markets collapse, when currencies lose their value, and when governments print money at unprecedented rates, investors throughout history have turned to one asset above all others: gold. But does gold actually deliver during economic crises? The historical record offers a clear, data-rich answer that every investor should understand before deciding whether gold belongs
