Category: Market Commentary

The first half of 2014 turned out to be positive almost everywhere you looked in the financial markets. After posting a stellar 2013, the bull market and asset inflation have continued. While back to back large double digit annual returns from stocks do not happen often, it is normal to see a positive return in [...]

“As a newsman, I want to salute whoever came up with the term ‘polar vortex,’. It is terrifying but still sounds all science-y. A lesser meteorologist could have overreached with ‘arctic coldnado’ – Stephen Colbert 1/06/14 Hyperbole aside, while the polar vortex of freezing temperatures may have frozen most of the US, it had only [...]

2013 turned out to be a banner year for equity investors. As the nearby chart illustrates, most domestic equity indexes were up by 30% or more, and international developed indexes by 20% or more, while developing market indexes mostly had slightly negative returns. Bonds had one of the worst years in decades, with virtually all [...]

Most likely you are asking the same question we are. What is going on in Washington? And how and when does it end? We clearly have an acrimonious situation in Congress that has caused a government shutdown.  Coupled with the looming debt ceiling deadline of October 17th, this state of affairs is creating mounting uncertainty [...]

September 2013 marks the five-year anniversary of the financial market collapse in 2008; we have certainly come a long way in those five years. With the S&P 500 and the Dow eclipsing all-time highs and interest rates having stayed low for the longest stretch in 50 years, most investors have already received quite a benefit [...]

“For the loser now will be later to win For the times they are a-changin’” – Bob Dylan With a modest improvement in unemployment, a nascent housing recovery and continued accommodative Federal Reserve, the US markets continued to generate positive returns, albeit with considerable volatility in the second half of the quarter.  In the prior [...]

In every life we have some trouble When you worry you make it double Don’t worry, be happy….. – Bobby McFerrin 1988 While all of the problems the market has been worrying about for the last few years have not been solved, it seems that “the can was kicked down road” enough this quarter for [...]

Strategas Investment Strategy Outlook – Equities & The T.I.N.A. Factor January 2013 Coldstream had the honor of hosting Strategas Research Partners on January 23rd at Overlake GCC. Strategas’ Chief Strategist and a regular on CNBC, Jason Trennert shared his major investment themes for 2013 in a post-election environment with “fiscal cliff” uncertainty.     [...]

It came down to the very last minute, but compromise was made and the majority of the fiscal cliff averted.  Not surprisingly the markets rallied early on news of the pending compromise.  What was surprising was the resilience of the market during weeks of tough negotiations.  Those expecting a repeat of the prior year’s debt [...]