Latest Investments & Planning Insights

Something is stirring. Shifting ground. It’s just begun. This month, investors seem to have finally cast aside their inflation worries as they focus more on risks to global growth. Commodities prices have plunged, bonds are rallying, and central banks are cutting interest rates.

In many ways, recent macro and market data resembles Pearl Jam’s cooling of energy, whether we are looking at labor data or equity market leadership and returns. Of course, the biggest question facing investors is if this slowing and cooling of data “does the evolution” into outright weakness for the economy and markets.

The unofficial end of summer is upon us, and save for a few fleeting days of volatility, it was a fruitful season for diversified investors. Even so, a few storm clouds have begun to descend, with unemployment rising and earnings revisions turning mildly negative.

Poor affordability is a large part of the story of poor home sales growth this year. But it’s not the whole story. No other segment of the U.S. economy has experienced a stranger landing than the U.S. housing market. So, let’s fly over the rainbow and explore what’s happening and how it informs our outlook.