News and Commentary

Friends,As I suggested in January, we were heading into the 3rd year of the 4 year presidential term. This tends to be the strongest year historically in the markets and we have been seeing it. Regardless of what all the short-term focused timers on CNBC have been saying all year, the S&P 500, Technology sector, and global stocks have had a strong first half. Although the S&P 500 finished the first half up over 16%, it’s been mostly the technology sector that has driven this gain.(Many don’t recall that the technology sector had big losses in 2022 and thus needed to rally to make up for those losses.) Interestingly, the average stock in the S&P 500 is only up about 6%. For this market to go higher in the near term, we should see the “rest” of the market and dividend stocks catch up. We will continue to rebalance our portfolios when needed and help meet your personal planning goals. See this for more detail on the quarter: hereSWM NEWS:Jeff’s daughter, Caroline, graduated from NYU with an art history and photography degree. They had a nice time seeing Yankee stadium for the graduation, catching a comedy show, and enjoying the food in NYC.  

What a quarter it was with some tough headline noise…a bank failure, earnings declines, and the Fed raising rates. With all that, our diversified portfolios had a nice quarter and we picked up some gains in the international, bond, and tech areas(unexpected).   As I’ve mentioned to you in our calls and emails, this year in the 4 year presidential cycle tends to be the best and we rarely have 2 negative years in a row.  It still remains to be seen how much of a recession we will have and it’s effect on corporate earnings and the Fed’s next move.  It’s been a test of patience for all of us for nearly 18 months and our team is grateful for your long term focus. See this for more detail on the quarter: here SWM NEWS:We are pleased to introduce Danielle Santerre, replacing Allison, as our new Private Client Associate.  She can be reached at dsanterre@janney.com or 404-926-2010(same number as before). She brings 24 years of banking experience from Truist and Suntrust bank. She is very active in the community and currently active with the Women’s Interactive Network with Janney. She enjoys traveling, exercising, and spending time with her family and is the proud mom to three daughters that are currently students at Florida State and Georgia Southern University.  

What a treat to have our firm’s Chief Investment Strategist