Market Minute

December 2023 – By Bob Veres

It’s surprising that this isn’t getting more attention in the press, but the U.S. Commerce Department has reported that the American economy grew by a remarkable 5.2% annualized pace in this year’s third quarter.  Corporate profits were up 4.3% for the quarter, following a somewhat anemic 0.8% gain in the second quarter.  Consumer spending rose 3.6%, and the next report could top that, based on record-setting sales reported on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Planning Article

November 2023 – By Tom Rueger, J.D., CFP^®

As we head into the 2023 holiday season there is now one more thing to celebrate this year…wait for it…the new 2024 tax brackets are here! Does it get any better than that??? Hopefully, it does get better than that and, if not, you should start working on your New Year’s resolutions! All joking aside, the IRS has announced what the income tax brackets and standard deductions will be for the 2024 tax year (taxes filed in 2025).

Planning Article

October 2023 – By Bob Veres

We obviously can’t predict a market downturn in advance, but we can certainly prepare for one.  With the markets in a bit of a doldrums the past month, that preparation may come in handy in the fairly near future.

Market Memo

October 2023 – By Kyle Rohrwasser

Since July of 2022, we have had an inverted yield curve. This is when the 2-year treasury bond has a higher yield than the 10-year treasury bond. Typically, investors expect to receive a higher yield the longer the maturity of the bond. When the yield curve inverts it signals potential economic stress reflecting the uncertainty over the longer time horizon. Since 1978 the yield curve has inverted 6 times and each time a recession has followed. 2008 being the most recent and deepest.