Commentary

Commentary and Perspectives

Read SFE’s latest quarterly commentaries

As well as articles, reports and studies that we find insightful, timely and relevant. We hope that you will, too. If you have a question, let us know what you think. Fill out the form at the bottom of this page.

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Quarterly Commentary –January 2026

Equity markets maintained a positive bias during Q4 with the S&P500 rising 2.3% for the quarter and finishing up 17.9% for 2025...

Quarterly Commentary –October 2025

Equity markets displayed steady confidence throughout the 3rd quarter with the S&P 500 index up 8% amid modest volatility. Equity returns have jumped more than...

Quarterly Commentary –July 2025

The 2nd quarter began with President Trump launching a trade tariff shock into the global trading system sending equity markets down sharply. The US bore the brunt with the S&P 500...

Quarterly Commentary – April 2025

The new Trump administration introduced several market-changing policy shifts in the first quarter with the net investment impact being a modest decline of 4% in the S&P 500 for the quarter...

Quarterly Commentary – January 2025

After two consecutive years of above-average equity returns, we remain upbeat on continued upside given the promising economic environment in place as we enter 2025. Despite recently...

Quarterly Commentary – October 2024

It continues to be our view that solid business fundamentals remain in place. Q2’s final GDP growth was reported above expectations at 3.0% and businesses across sectors continue to see...

Quarterly Commentary – July 2024

Solid business fundamentals continued to support a positive equity environment during Q2. After a strong first quarter, most stocks saw...

Quarterly Commentary – April 2024

Positive equity returns of 2023 continued in the first quarter of 2024 with the S&P500 up another 10%. The quarter saw a healthy broadening of market performance...

Quarterly Commentary – January 2024

We are very pleased with the economic outcome during Q4. Signs indicate the bear market has finally ended and the early stages of the next bull market have begun. It has been...

Quarterly Commentary – October 2023

After three quarters of strong returns lifted the S&P500 index, equities took a step back in Q3. It felt worse because there was a decline of almost 5% in September followed by...

Quarterly Commentary – April 2023

US economic growth has been relatively modest in the first quarter with GDP growth expectations ranging
from 1.5% to 2%. Meanwhile...

Quarterly Commentary – January 2023

2022 will be remembered as the year the Fed finally took Covid inflation seriously. After having increased
the economy’s money supply...

Quarterly Commentary – October 2022

Our longer-term view for our clients’ portfolios remains much more positive than what is currently reflected
in market prices...

Quarterly Commentary – July 2022

Given the extraordinary downside volatility affecting both equity and bond prices this past quarter, we felt an early commentary might be appreciated......

Quarterly Commentary – May 2022

After two historic years with the entire world dealing with the extraordinary ramifications of the Covid-19virus, 2022 started out seemingly headed down a path towards normalization across global economies...

Quarterly Commentary – January 2022

While the Omicron variant rages into 2022, there remain many favorable investment and economic trends that will continue to co-exist within the pandemic now two years old. 2021 saw the S&P 500 surge...

Quarterly Commentary – October 2021

As the third quarter came to an end, investors began to recognize that economic growth was somewhat slower than expected and inflation somewhat higher. Payrolls were a little weaker while wages had increased more than expected. Some on Wall Street were...

Quarterly Commentary – July 2021

First quarter GDP was officially reported as 6.4% and the expectation is that Q2 was even stronger. As US vaccination levels rose from roughly 30% at the beginning of the 2nd quarter to more than 60% by the end, economic activity accelerated and...

Quarterly Commentary – April 2021

The first quarter of 2021 has brought a renewed sense of optimism that we’re close to putting the worst aspects of Covid behind us; and, that a broad and diverse range of normal everyday activities will once again be part of our daily lives and...

Quarterly Commentary – January 2021

2020 will be remembered as the year the world experienced its worst pandemic in 100 years. The virus and resulting societal reactions have upended the daily lives of literally everyone...

Quarterly Commentary – October 2020

The past quarter saw substantial improvements in the underlying domestic economy (GDP estimated up 25%) as well as equity returns (S&P 500 up 8%). Consensus expectations suggest continued positive…

Quarterly Commentary – July 2020

The past quarter has been bittersweet. The Covid-19 virus exceeded almost everyone’s worst expectations with global cases now at 10 million and the number of deaths above 500,000. For much of the quarter investors were somewhat dumbfounded as the economy obviously declined significantly while asset prices rose strongly with the S&P up 21%…

Quarterly Commentary – April 2020

The global response to slow Covid-19 has temporarily impacted the underlying economies which support us all. To counter that impact, our government has taken substantial actions to support our economy, including both the $2 trillion fiscal stimulus package as well as…

Coronavirus Update – March 13, 2020

The coronavirus poses risks that are largely unprecedented. Reliable information about its scope and duration is hard to come by; making predictions is beyond our expertise. All we can do in that regard is urge all of our readers to take appropriate precautions – be careful out there! But we can and should let you know what we think of its economic and market consequences.

Letter to Clients – March 3, 2020

The spreading coronavirus has created uncertainty and anxiety for many people in their daily lives. This is a normal reaction and we can only offer what the medical professionals have been saying… However, the economic and market impact of the coronavirus is an area we feel we can offer expertise.

Quarterly Commentary – December 2019

By now everyone is aware of the strong market returns in 2019; less appreciated is that much of the performance was simply getting back to…

Quarterly Commentary – October 2019

Continuing their climb up a wall of worry, US equities rose 1.7% during Q3. Valuation multiples remain reasonable and we hope to see continued modest market appreciation…

Quarterly Commentary – July 2019

After a very strong Q1 performance, equities continued to rise in Q2 with the S&P 500 up an additional 5%. This brings 2019 S&P 500 performance up above 18%! We believe…

Quarterly Commentary – April 2019

Liz Ann Sonders, Schwab’s insightful chief investment officer, prefers to think about the economy in terms of “better or worse” instead of “good or bad.” In other words, expectations can be…

How to Detect an Identity Thief

Identity theft may be one of the oldest techniques in the fraud book, but it remains prevalent, especially in a world where much more information is…

Quarterly Commentary – January 2019

Liz Ann Sonders, Schwab’s insightful chief investment officer, prefers to think about the economy in terms of “better or worse” instead of “good or bad.” In other words, expectations can be…

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