Category: Market Commentary

Stocks wrapped up 2024 on a high note, with a robust fourth quarter marked by the broader market reaching record highs. Contributing factors included strong economic growth, expanding corporate earnings, and a Federal Reserve decision to reduce interest rates. Also, investor enthusiasm remained fueled by the ongoing momentum in the artificial intelligence sector. November’s U.S. [...]

Coldstream is excited to share its MarketCast for the first quarter of 2025, where we’ll wrap up 2024 and look ahead at the coming year. This short video presentation offers commentary and analysis of the market and economy, examining the factors influencing the environment and shaping the landscape. In this MarketCast, Bryan Shipley, CFA®, CAIA®, [...]

Navigating today’s financial landscape involves understanding a range of influences, from election cycles and policy shifts to market sentiment and economic fundamentals. Recent events―including the 2024 election and Federal Reserve interest rate decisions―have highlighted some of the dynamics that shape market behavior and underscored the importance of maintaining a disciplined, long-term perspective in investing. At [...]

Coldstream’s Q4 2024 Quarterly Investment Strategy Group Webinar is available for viewing. In this webinar, Chief Investment Officer and General Counsel Howard Coleman, JD, leads a discussion about current economic indicators, factors influencing the market landscape, and our outlook for the coming months. He’s joined by Senior Portfolio Manager Bryan Shipley, CFA®, CAIA®; Senior Portfolio [...]

Fears of recession in August, sparked by a worse-than-expected July jobs report and an uptick in unemployment, resulted in the S&P 500 Index declining by 8%. Many market participants expressed concern that the Federal Reserve (the Fed) waited too long to cut the Fed Funds rate. In September, the Fed responded to the potential cracks [...]

Coldstream’s Q3 2024 Quarterly Investment Strategy Group Webinar is now available! In this webinar, Chief Investment Officer and General Counsel Howard Coleman, JD, leads a discussion about current economic indicators, factors influencing the market landscape, and our outlook for the coming months. He’s joined by Senior Portfolio Manager James Walsh, CFA®, MBA; Portfolio Manager Bryan [...]

Unlike gains in the S&P 500 in 2023, gains in the first quarter of 2024 were broad based and driven by companies other than the large mega-cap tech companies. Indeed, the equities of two of the Magnificent Seven suffered significant declines in the first quarter of 2024 with Tesla falling 29% and Apple falling 12%. [...]

GDP grew at 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023 and is predicted to grow by over 2% in the first quarter of 2024. Driven by strong growth and continued optimism about the potential of Artificial Intelligence, the S&P 500 gained 10.56% for the quarter, the best quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2019. [...]

What a difference a year makes.  In 2022, both the equity and fixed income markets suffered significant declines over market participants’ fears that Fed tightening would lead to a recession but not curb inflation.  Contrast this to 2023 when the Fed indicated the tightening cycle was coming to an end, inflation was receding, growth remained [...]