YOUR RETIREMENT JOURNEY BEGINS
HERE.

Most of the major equity markets ended the first calendar quarter of the year with double digit percentage gains. Much of last year’s losses have been put in the past. What’s more, popularly followed indexes are closing in on last year’s all-time highs. Those that abandoned stocks at the end of 2018 have surely missed out on a fast, yet sizeable market rebound.

The analysts on Wall Street set target prices for the companies that they cover. A bottom up approach that sums those target prices indicates that the index level could reach $3,062, which is a 10% premium above today’s level!

Stock markets are powerful voting machines and quickly update as new information is made available. For investors, a prudent course of action is to remain optimistic.

US stock prices sunk in what was a myriad fourth-quarter and especially dour December. From October’s peak to December’s bottom, the S&P 500’s index level had fallen almost 15%.

The exasperation in international stock markets are in lockstep with the US stock market’s pursuit to find a new bottom. As a whole, broader international stock markets are nearing correction levels this year.

The S&P 500 nearly lost 10% between September 20th and October 29th. At its worst moment, year-to-date gains flipped from being positive to being negative.

US and international stock market divergence certainly has investors wondering about US stocks.

In the backdrop for US stock performance has been another quarter of excellent profit growth.

Now, the US economy is being described as having the best of many worlds. Real growth has gained altitude while inflationary trends are fairly stable.

The Federal Reserve Bank has been primarily focused on containing inflation, but now they may have to get ahead of it.