Insights

When Will the Santa Rally Start?  Last week was rough for equity markets. The S&P 500 Index fell 3.4%. As we noted, December is historically strong for stocks, and we don’t expect 2022 to be any different. It has been the third best month for the S&P 500 since 1950 (April and Novemb …

Welcome to December Can you believe we’ve made it to the final month of the year? Stocks gained nicely in October and November (more on that below), but now we head into the jolliest month of them all. The good news is no month is more likely to be higher for stocks. The S&P 500 …

A More Positive 2023 Stocks continued to move higher last week, with the Dow back above 34,000 and officially closing at a new seven-month high along the way. After energy led the rally, several other sectors, including financials, health care, materials, and industrials are now participati …

It is Thanksgiving week, so we want to review a few reasons for investors to be thankful. Yes, it has been a tough year. But things are looking better, and we expect more improvement in 2023. Gridlock Can Be Good The first reason to be thankful is stocks have continued to rally off their Oc …

On the heels of a huge month for stocks in October, the bull continued to soar in November, as the S&P 500 had its best week since June and the NASDAQ had its best week since March. Sparking much of the rally was news that inflation has likely peaked and is finally slowing. We’ll discus …

This week was midterm elections and we’ve had many questions about what it all could mean, which we’ll tackle in today’s blog. We consider it a great honor to vote, and while we may not know the final results of the election for days (or even months), what we do know is the election will …

As expected, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by 0.75% to the 3.75-4% range on Wednesday. This was the fourth successive 0.75% hike. The initial market focus was on a new line inserted in the official statement, wherein the Fed nodded in the direction of decelerating the pa …

Wondering what Q4 might bring? Watch Carson Group’s Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick’s Quarterly Market Outlook webinar for Q4, now available for viewing on-demand.   

Stocks had a solid week, gaining nearly 5%. The jump was sparked by rumors on Friday that the Federal Reserve will raise rates by 75 basis points in November and then consider smaller hikes going forward. The market has priced in an extremely hawkish Fed, and any slight tilt to a more dovis …

We’ll get to the disappointing inflation data next, but Thursday morning had a pure panic feel to it — potentially the washout that is needed for lows to form.