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Third Quarter, 2024
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes, Oh Yeah!
The only constant in our lives is change. As musical legend David Bowie once said, “Ch-ch-ch-ch changes! Turn and face the strange.” The song hints that the best path is to embrace the strange, unwelcome, or opportunistic changes life throws us. Although “Changes” was not released until 1972, Bowie penned it in 1969 near the height of the social and political turmoil of the 1970s—sound familiar?
Our passion as wealth strategists at Waddell & Associates is to help you navigate changes more skillfully. Not just in your investment portfolios, but more importantly, in all of these other areas:
- Health and aging – your own and that of your loved ones and friends.
- Change in residency – whether to rent or buy.
- Whether to spend or save, or both. Whether to buy or sell, when and why.
- Financing choices – borrowing, how & when? Pay off mortgage or re-finance?
- How to adjust to rising or falling interest rates? Changes to your income.
- Changes in employment: when to retire, semi-retire, or start a new career?
- How to navigate divorce, sickness, or loss of a spouse, partner, loved one, pet, or friend.
- Aging at home or in a retirement community for your loved ones, or for you?
- Estate planning – do you want to leave a legacy? When is it best to consider charitable giving and how should you start?
- Inheritances and gifting — assessing the consequences of how you name beneficiaries.
- Analyzing the importance and effects of taxes on these decisions.
BOTTOM LINE: Ch-ch-ch-ch changes. Rely on the credentialed and experienced wealth strategists at W&A to help you skillfully face changes, oh yeah!
-Phyllis
Sources: Wikipedia; vocal.media
">The Older We Get… Third Quarter, 2024Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes, Oh Yeah!
The only constant in our lives is change. As musical legend David Bowie once said, “Ch-ch-ch-ch changes! Turn and face the strange.” The song hints that the best path is to embrace the strange, unwelcome, or opportunistic changes life throws us. Although “Changes” was not released until 1972, Bowie penned it in 1969 near the height of the social and political turmoil of the 1970s—sound familiar?
Our passion as wealth strategists at Waddell & Associates is to help you navigate changes more skillfully. Not just in your investment portfolios, but more importantly, in all of these other areas:
- Health and aging – your own and that of your loved ones and friends.
- Change in residency – whether to rent or buy.
- Whether to spend or save, or both. Whether to buy or sell, when and why.
- Financing choices – borrowing, how & when? Pay off mortgage or re-finance?
- How to adjust to rising or falling interest rates? Changes to your income.
- Changes in employment: when to retire, semi-retire, or start a new career?
- How to navigate divorce, sickness, or loss of a spouse, partner, loved one, pet, or friend.
- Aging at home or in a retirement community for your loved ones, or for you?
- Estate planning – do you want to leave a legacy? When is it best to consider charitable giving and how should you start?
- Inheritances and gifting — assessing the consequences of how you name beneficiaries.
- Analyzing the importance and effects of taxes on these decisions.
BOTTOM LINE: Ch-ch-ch-ch changes. Rely on the credentialed and experienced wealth strategists at W&A to help you skillfully face changes, oh yeah!
-Phyllis
Sources: Wikipedia; vocal.media
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Third Quarter, 2024
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes, Oh Yeah!
The only constant in our lives is change. As musical legend David Bowie once said, “Ch-ch-ch-ch changes! Turn and face the strange.” The song hints that the best path is to embrace the strange, unwelcome, or opportunistic changes life throws us. Although “Changes” was not released until 1972, Bowie penned it in 1969 near the height of the social and political turmoil of the 1970s—sound familiar?
Our passion as wealth strategists at Waddell & Associates is to help you navigate changes more skillfully. Not just in your investment portfolios, but more importantly, in all of these other areas:
- Health and aging – your own and that of your loved ones and friends.
- Change in residency – whether to rent or buy.
- Whether to spend or save, or both. Whether to buy or sell, when and why.
- Financing choices – borrowing, how & when? Pay off mortgage or re-finance?
- How to adjust to rising or falling interest rates? Changes to your income.
- Changes in employment: when to retire, semi-retire, or start a new career?
- How to navigate divorce, sickness, or loss of a spouse, partner, loved one, pet, or friend.
- Aging at home or in a retirement community for your loved ones, or for you?
- Estate planning – do you want to leave a legacy? When is it best to consider charitable giving and how should you start?
- Inheritances and gifting — assessing the consequences of how you name beneficiaries.
- Analyzing the importance and effects of taxes on these decisions.
BOTTOM LINE: Ch-ch-ch-ch changes. Rely on the credentialed and experienced wealth strategists at W&A to help you skillfully face changes, oh yeah!
-Phyllis
Sources: Wikipedia; vocal.media
">AA- It’s Not What You Think! Third Quarter, 2024Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes, Oh Yeah!
The only constant in our lives is change. As musical legend David Bowie once said, “Ch-ch-ch-ch changes! Turn and face the strange.” The song hints that the best path is to embrace the strange, unwelcome, or opportunistic changes life throws us. Although “Changes” was not released until 1972, Bowie penned it in 1969 near the height of the social and political turmoil of the 1970s—sound familiar?
Our passion as wealth strategists at Waddell & Associates is to help you navigate changes more skillfully. Not just in your investment portfolios, but more importantly, in all of these other areas:
- Health and aging – your own and that of your loved ones and friends.
- Change in residency – whether to rent or buy.
- Whether to spend or save, or both. Whether to buy or sell, when and why.
- Financing choices – borrowing, how & when? Pay off mortgage or re-finance?
- How to adjust to rising or falling interest rates? Changes to your income.
- Changes in employment: when to retire, semi-retire, or start a new career?
- How to navigate divorce, sickness, or loss of a spouse, partner, loved one, pet, or friend.
- Aging at home or in a retirement community for your loved ones, or for you?
- Estate planning – do you want to leave a legacy? When is it best to consider charitable giving and how should you start?
- Inheritances and gifting — assessing the consequences of how you name beneficiaries.
- Analyzing the importance and effects of taxes on these decisions.
BOTTOM LINE: Ch-ch-ch-ch changes. Rely on the credentialed and experienced wealth strategists at W&A to help you skillfully face changes, oh yeah!
-Phyllis
Sources: Wikipedia; vocal.media
" class="link-chevron">Third Quarter, 2024
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes, Oh Yeah!
The only constant in our lives is change. As musical legend David Bowie once said, “Ch-ch-ch-ch changes! Turn and face the strange.” The song hints that the best path is to embrace the strange, unwelcome, or opportunistic changes life throws us. Although “Changes” was not released until 1972, Bowie penned it in 1969 near the height of the social and political turmoil of the 1970s—sound familiar?
Our passion as wealth strategists at Waddell & Associates is to help you navigate changes more skillfully. Not just in your investment portfolios, but more importantly, in all of these other areas:
- Health and aging – your own and that of your loved ones and friends.
- Change in residency – whether to rent or buy.
- Whether to spend or save, or both. Whether to buy or sell, when and why.
- Financing choices – borrowing, how & when? Pay off mortgage or re-finance?
- How to adjust to rising or falling interest rates? Changes to your income.
- Changes in employment: when to retire, semi-retire, or start a new career?
- How to navigate divorce, sickness, or loss of a spouse, partner, loved one, pet, or friend.
- Aging at home or in a retirement community for your loved ones, or for you?
- Estate planning – do you want to leave a legacy? When is it best to consider charitable giving and how should you start?
- Inheritances and gifting — assessing the consequences of how you name beneficiaries.
- Analyzing the importance and effects of taxes on these decisions.
BOTTOM LINE: Ch-ch-ch-ch changes. Rely on the credentialed and experienced wealth strategists at W&A to help you skillfully face changes, oh yeah!
-Phyllis
Sources: Wikipedia; vocal.media
">Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes, Oh Yeah! Third Quarter, 2024Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes, Oh Yeah!
The only constant in our lives is change. As musical legend David Bowie once said, “Ch-ch-ch-ch changes! Turn and face the strange.” The song hints that the best path is to embrace the strange, unwelcome, or opportunistic changes life throws us. Although “Changes” was not released until 1972, Bowie penned it in 1969 near the height of the social and political turmoil of the 1970s—sound familiar?
Our passion as wealth strategists at Waddell & Associates is to help you navigate changes more skillfully. Not just in your investment portfolios, but more importantly, in all of these other areas:
- Health and aging – your own and that of your loved ones and friends.
- Change in residency – whether to rent or buy.
- Whether to spend or save, or both. Whether to buy or sell, when and why.
- Financing choices – borrowing, how & when? Pay off mortgage or re-finance?
- How to adjust to rising or falling interest rates? Changes to your income.
- Changes in employment: when to retire, semi-retire, or start a new career?
- How to navigate divorce, sickness, or loss of a spouse, partner, loved one, pet, or friend.
- Aging at home or in a retirement community for your loved ones, or for you?
- Estate planning – do you want to leave a legacy? When is it best to consider charitable giving and how should you start?
- Inheritances and gifting — assessing the consequences of how you name beneficiaries.
- Analyzing the importance and effects of taxes on these decisions.
BOTTOM LINE: Ch-ch-ch-ch changes. Rely on the credentialed and experienced wealth strategists at W&A to help you skillfully face changes, oh yeah!
-Phyllis
Sources: Wikipedia; vocal.media
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Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
">Gimme Five… Or Maybe Not??
Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
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Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
">Bonds, What Are They Good For?
Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
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Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
">March Market Madness
Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
" class="link-chevron">
Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
">High Five 2022
Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
" class="link-chevron">
Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
">“September To Remember”
Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
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Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
">“Nowhere To Run, Nowhere To Hide”
Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
" class="link-chevron">
Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist
Sources: JPMorgan, Edward Jones, Bloomberg
">“War, What Is It Good For?”
Friday’s report should reinforce expectations that the Fed will accelerate the tapering of Quantitative Easing at its meeting this next week and potentially raise rates as soon as June 2022. Naturally, some investors fear equity market volatility as the Fed starts to reduce liquidity injections into the system and embarks on a rate-hiking cycle; however, equities historically have held up well during tapering and the start of Fed rate hikes. It is only toward the end of Fed cycles that we tend to get more serious volatility, which is unlikely to be in the next 18 months.
I also think it’s noteworthy that Jerome Powell started his term as Fed Chair in February 2018 and presided over the last cycle of rate hikes including the overtightening and resulting stock market correction during the fourth quarter of 2018. I’m hopeful that lessons were learned.
Omicron
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 first became a news headline and market concern on the day after Thanksgiving and the following week. The S&P 500 saw its worst 2-day performance in over a year and the Volatility Index rose to above 30 for the first time since February. Also, that same week in testimony before Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inflation was no longer transitory and that the pace of tapering might be accelerated at the Fed’s December meeting. Both contributed to market stress and the risk-off selling mentioned previously.
Thankfully, Omicron-induced pressure has been slightly easing. On Friday, the CDC released a report on the first studied cases in the U.S. and many of the omicron variant infections appear to be mild. They did note that it was a very small sample size (43 cases), it can take several days or weeks before severe symptoms appear in some individuals, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in infected vaccinated people and in those with a previous coronavirus infection.
The CDC report aligns with similar early reports from South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council reported that most hospitalized patients who tested positive did not need supplemental oxygen, few developed pneumonia, few required high-level care, and few were admitted to intensive care. The average length of hospital stays was below 3 days, compared to 8.5 days over the last 18 months.
BioNTech and Pfizer expect to deliver an Omicron-specific vaccine by March 2022. The companies also reported that in laboratory tests, a three-shot regimen (including the booster) may be just as effective in neutralizing the new Omicron variant as their original two-shot regimen was in neutralizing Alpha.
While it seems highly unlikely that we were ever headed back into a lockdown, social distancing restrictions impacting hospitality, leisure, food & beverage, and entertainment industries as well as the availability of workers all have real economic impacts.
Have a great Sunday!
Timothy W. Ellis, Jr., CPA/PFS, CFP®
Senior Investment Strategist, Wealth Strategist