Weekly Financial Market Updates

What is the market?

MICHELLE SMALENBERGER, CFP® Whether it is on the nightly news, in the newspaper, on various financial radio stations or websites, you hear people talk about the market. Yet, what is the market? The market is simply where stocks, bonds and funds are traded.  Here we refer to a handful of common indexes or benchmarks used to…

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Financial Friday

Friday’s Financial Update 8-18-2017: Investing vs. Gambling

We’ve all seen the news headlines this week of political drama in many forms.  The market has been up and down depending on the news of the day.  Despite these events, a diversified long-term focused investment plan is still the way to go to weather not only the news but also the market. Thought that…

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Friday’s Financial Update 8-11-2017

What difference do you notice in the pictures below? These two pictures represent the S&P500 Index performance from this past week and of course, an amusement park roller coaster.  The path each of these took is the same.  So what can we learn and where do we go from here? First, how did the ups…

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The Cost of Uncertainty

Michelle Smalenberger, CFP® When investing in a stock, we choose to buy or sell based upon our expectation of what a company’s revenue and profits will be going forward.  Continued growth happens because of a good business plan, forward-thinking ideas and a solid grasp of what their customers want.  In order for companies to be…

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Caution: Speed Bumps Ahead

MICHELLE SMALENBERGER, CFP® Fasten your seatbelts for bumps ahead!  Let’s review some of the main stories driving market activity this week. CORPORATE EARNINGS: Companies have reported strong earnings which have continued to push up stock prices.  Large gains from companies like Boeing, Ford, Verizon, and AT&T, among many others have reaffirmed confidence in their stock….

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Financial Friday

Friday’s Financial Update 7-21-2017

MICHELLE SMALENBERGER, CFP® No news is good news?  This is a common phrase you may hear or even tell yourself when you “want” to hear it.  Today the market ended down slightly.  The news of the day to cause this was the hiring of Anthony Scaramucci as President Trump’s new communications director and the resignation…

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