Tag: Investments

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 [...]

With the elections over, the media has turned its attention to negotiations between the U.S. House, Senate and Administration over tax policy and spending programs to avert what has been dubbed the “fiscal cliff” facing our country.  One of our research resources, Strategas Research Partners, provides a list below of the various tax extensions, programs and spending [...]

When making investments on behalf of our clients our views are being shaped by monetary policies both in the U.S. and abroad. The Taylor Rule A number of years ago John Taylor, a Stanford professor and noted economist, came up with a formula to guide how our central bank should set and change their interest [...]

As we highlighted in the spring, 2012 has been a good year for the financial markets, equities in particular, and has exhibited much less overall market volatility than 2011.  Although there were no significant year-over-year gains for equity markets in calendar 2011 from the prior year, the fourth quarter strength in common stocks set the [...]

Coldstream Acquires Ascent Capital   Chris Blakeslee joins Coldstream as Portfolio Manager BELLEVUE — June 28, 2012 — Coldstream Capital Management (“Coldstream”) today announced that it has acquired Ascent Capital, a real estate lending partnership specializing in lending to single family home builders in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.  Chris Blakeslee, Ascent Capital’s Managing Member, has [...]

After a strong first quarter of the year, market sentiment in the second quarter eroded amid a variety of macro factors.  These factors included the impact of the fiscal cliff facing the US economy heading into 2013, the turmoil from the European financial crisis, economic headwinds of stagnant earnings growth in the US and a [...]

In 2009, Sports Illustrated estimated that 78% of NFL players are bankrupt within two years of ending their careers, and that 60% of NBA players are broke within 5 years of retiring. Although not as dismal, Lottery winners also have an extremely poor track record of successfully retaining their wealth. Many of these individuals suffer [...]