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Tensions in the Middle East and a stronger than expected Consumer Price Index (CPI) report put pressure on the markets this week. Read more … Your Capital Markets Snapshot: Pressure on the Markets this Week
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The second quarter started off with positive news on the jobs front as the March non-farm payroll report came in with a gain of 303,000 jobs which was well above expectations of 205,000. Read more … Your Capital Markets Snapshot: Positive News on the Jobs Front
Data in the last week of the quarter painted a bright picture of the U.S. economy. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric, the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) Index, came in as expected for February with an increase of 2.5% for the year. Read more … Your Capital Markets Snapshot: A Bright Picture of the U.S. Economy
The Federal Reserve’s “dot-plot” was back in the news this week following the March FOMC meeting. While no rate cuts were announced at this meeting, the new pattern of expected Fed moves implies three cuts at some point in 2024. Read more … Your Capital Markets Snapshot: The Federal Reserve’s “Dot-Plot” Back in the News
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2024 can be the year that you feel better about your finances! Read more … Cultivating Financial Wellness
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Your Capital Markets Snapshot: Slight Pickup in Inflationary Pressures
Economic data showed a slight pickup in inflationary pressures which may keep the Fed on pause at their FOMC meeting this week. Both the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Producer Price Index (PPI) came in slightly higher than expected last week. Read more … Your Capital Markets Snapshot: Slight Pickup in Inflationary Pressures
Your Capital Markets Snapshot: Equity Markets Close with a Loss
The equity markets could not hold on to their recent rally and closed with a loss this week. Friday’s better than expected job report pushed two of the major indices into record territory but then profit-taking brought stocks lower to end the week. Read more … Your Capital Markets Snapshot: Equity Markets Close with a Loss
Your Capital Markets Snapshot: Equity Markets Reach Record Levels
Despite some mixed economic news this week, the equity markets continued to reach record levels. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 both closed at all-time highs on Friday, after ending February with their best monthly return in nine years. Read more … Your Capital Markets Snapshot: Equity Markets Reach Record Levels
Special Edition Navigator- SVB Failure
We are posting a “Special Edition of The Navigator – SVB Failure” by Daken Vanderburg, MassMutual Head of Investments. We depend on Daken for his wisdom and perspective at all times , and especially times like these, when dramatic events such as the recent bank failures can rattle our nerves and shake our confidence. Read more … Special Edition Navigator- SVB Failure
Financial Planning and Market Update 03/12/21
This month we mark International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. For our team, we have been reflecting on women who have inspired us, the state of affairs of Women & Finance and opportunities to make a difference in bettering the lives of women and girls in our region especially as we know the “SheCession” is real. Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 03/12/21
Financial Planning and Market Update 02/17/21
It just keeps getting more and more interesting, right? I’m finding it hard to find a reason to watch any thing but news these days – no TV series can compete with what’s going on! Between COVID variants, great progress on the vaccination front, the high drama of Impeachment, Biden executive orders and big legislation drama, who needs Netflix? Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 02/17/21
Financial Planning and Market Update 12/10/20
Among other things to ponder (like an attempted coup, a raging pandemic, crazy-making mixed economic signals), it’s “that time of year again” – year-end, a time to consider the legal and financial changes that have taken place, and all those things which come up as we await the turning of the calendar. Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 12/10/20
Financial Planning and Market Update 10/01/20
To the tune of “Autumn Leaves” (played by Miles) we’re happy to be presenting Daken Vanderburg’s latest Update in this issue of The Navigator, along with the DFG’s Monthly Review of Financial Planning Topics and the current issue of The Soloist. Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 10/01/20
Financial Planning and Market Update 08/20/20
Things seem really bad. We hear it on the news and feel it in our bones. People are sick and dying, out of work, insecure. But “the market” has recovered from the initial shock and one hopes rallies on to new highs. Happy days are here again! But this market rally is crazy-making, right? Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 08/20/20
Financial Planning and Market Update 06/26/20
As we enter the height of summer, the virus is continuing to wreak havoc with our economy, our sense or order and security, and for some our faith in the future. Covid-19 is certainly illuminating the fragility of life. Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 06/26/20
Financial Planning and Market Update 05/21/20
We certainly are at a moment both of great uncertainty and hope in our fight against the pandemic, and our efforts to recover from the devastating losses to our economy, felt so disproportionally and unfairly in our society and around the world. Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 05/21/20
Financial Planning and Market Update 05/13/20
The news about UMass I woke up to last week was deeply troubling. I am a fifty-three-year resident of Amherst, a UMass/Amherst Graduate School Alum and former Professional Staff member whose wife retired from UMass after 35 years Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 05/13/20
Financial Planning and Market Update 04/29/20
I’m eager to share the current market update, hot off the press, by one of the most respected analysts in the business, Daken Vanderburg, the Head of Investments for Mass Mutual’s Wealth Management division. Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 04/29/20
Financial Planning and Market Update 04/09/20
When we began speaking with clients at the start of this crisis our focus was on creating a historical context and a perspective with which to understand what was happening, and addressing what we assumed would be, for many, the impulse to want to “do something” – sell, buy, change, anything! Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 04/09/20
Financial Planning and Market Update 03/30/20
For this Update I am sharing a document prepared by Daken Vandenburg, the Chief Investment Officer of the Mass Mutual Trust Company, one of our trusted investment partners. In it Daken sets the market turmoil we are living through in a historical context that I find extremely useful. Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 03/30/20
Financial Planning and Market Update 03/22/20
As the dimensions of what we are living through are becoming clearer, we’re all searching for answers and ideas about what to do and how to think about what’s happening. Here at DFG we’re trying to keep up with the torrent of information and opinion. Read more … Financial Planning and Market Update 03/22/20