April marked the first decline in the market since October 2023, ending a long five-month streak.  The S&P shed 4.2%, the DOW declining 5% and the NASDAQ 100 (QQQ) slumping around 5.2%, The month’s closing was well off the intra-month lows on April 19th where the S&P was down over 5% and QQQ was down close to 7%.    Bonds lost 2.5% for the month as rates backed up. The rest of the developed world (CWI) held up better with declines around 2.5%. TWG Portfolios underperformed their respective index as a result of limited non-US exposure, an overweight to growth assets ent ..read more

March 2024 and a 12-month Recap The stock market continued its advance to close the month quarter. For March, the S&P gained around 3%, the DJIA advancing around 2% and the NASDAQ was the underperformer of the major indices with gains around .7%. S&P 500 equal weight advanced 3%.   Mid-caps and small caps gained 5.4% and 3% respectively. Value (RPV) soared around 5.5% while growth RPG gained 1.2%.  The rest of the developed world advanced around 2% and bonds shed .75%. TWG growth, moderate and conservative portfolios all extended their year to date performance with gains ..read more

Financial markets once again logged a positive month, with the S&P 500 gaining 5.1%, the DJIA increasing 2.5% and the NASDAQ jumping 6.2%.  S&P 500 equal weight (RSP) gained 4.8%, Small Caps (IWM) surged 5.5%.  The rest of the developed world (CWI) popped 4.6% and bonds (AGG) shed .1% TWG Growth, moderate and conservative models gained 4.55%, 3.8% and 3% respectively, exceeding their respective benchmarks returns of 4.22%, 3.3% and 2.4% What Moved the Markets Early February jobs data pointed to more hires than expected, implying the labor market remains strong. On February 9t ..read more

The new year started with a sell-off which quickly turned to modest gains by month’s end. The S&P 500 advanced 1.5%, the DOW gained 1.2%. The NASDAQ advanced 1% in January after falling more than 2% in the final two trading days of the month.  Small caps shed 4% and midcaps fell 1.8%.  S&P equal weight (RSP) was down fractionally, and bonds were flat.  The rest of the developed world (CWI) shed 1.1% After the “buy everything” rally that punctuated the end of 2023, the market breadth narrowed during January, as 224 issued gained and 279 fell.  Five of the eleven sect ..read more

Markets declined in September for the second month in a row.  The S&P dropped 4.7%, the DOW declined 3.42% and the NASDAQ slumped 5.77%.  Bonds lost 2.54% as rates surged.  All sectors declined for the month except for energy, gaining 2.5%.  Growth was down more than value, and small caps down more than large caps. September results: TWG conservative (60/40) declined 2.8% vs its benchmark declining 3.6% TWG Moderate (75/25) declined 3.3% vs its benchmark declining 3.9% TWG Growth (90/10) declined 4% vs its benchmark declining 4.23% 3Q2023 Summary For the quarter, even w ..read more

July was another positive month for risk assets, with the S&P 500 advancing 3% and NASDAQ 100 (QQQ) gaining 4%. Small caps again took the lead with a 5% advance. Bonds ended the month .07% lower. Funds in our model portfolios participated nicely, with MOAT gaining 4%, SPYV and VTV gaining 3%, in line with the broad market. Model portfolios slightly lagged their benchmark between .05% and .10% after fees, mostly due to relative weakness in QQQ during the week of 7/17 when they declined 1% vs. the S&P gaining .7%. WHAT DROVE THE MARKET: Inflation, GDP and earnings were the main drivers o ..read more

December had a strong follow-through from an equally strong November.  The S&P 500 advanced 4.42% and the DOW gained 4.84%.  Mid-caps and small-caps played catch up after significantly lagging their large-cap brethren with gains of 8.5% and 12.6% respectively.  The year ended on a nine-week run of gains, something that rarely occurs, as market breath continued to expand. QQQ was up 5%, RSP (S&P500 equal weight) advanced 6.4%, and bonds gained 2.6% as yields continued to decline. The rest of the developed world (CWI) lagged the US with a gain of 2.3% TWG models increased ..read more

May was a relatively calm month when compared to the recent past. The S&P 500 gained .43% after being in a very narrow trading range between 4061 and 4205. Once again mega cap technology stole the show, with the QQQ rallying 9.1% for the month. MOAT advanced 1.6%. Small caps/IWM were flat, Value/RPV declined 5.3%, MSCI all world ex-US shed 3.6%, RSP/Equal weight declined 3% and bonds lost 1.4%. TWG models outperformed their benchmark, with growth/moderate/conservative up .6%, .25% and .10% respectively versus their respective benchmark declines of -.47%, -.56% and -.64%. Bonds and non- U.S ..read more

After three months of declines, the market rallied in November, reversing off the October lows to post its best month of the year.  For the month, the S&P gained 8.92%, the DOW advanced 8.77%, small caps increased 7.98% and the NASDAQ ripped 11.3%.  S&P 500 equal weight (RSP) gained 10.8% and bonds rallied 4.5%.  The rest of the developed world (CWI) advanced 8.2%.  Large cap growth (IWF) and large Cap value (IWD) rallied 9.7% and 7.5% respectively. This was a broad-based rally that carried the S&P higher than the July 31 peak as well as erasing the declines fro ..read more

The market started the month moving higher but rolled over mid-month to mark the third consecutive down month.  The S&P declined 2.1%, the NASDAQ slipped 2.78%, S&P equal weight shed 4.18% and small caps dropped 6.88%.  Bonds lost 1.8% as rates neared cycle peaks, clearly putting pressure on equity valuations. QQQ, our largest position, declined 2.08%, and COWZ lost 2.8%.  The rest of the developed works (CWI) declined 3.2% Energy was the worst performing sector, down 6%.  Utilities gained 1.3%, but are still the worst sector YTD, down 13.3%. TWG Moderate and Conser ..read more