May’s Month-End Performance
School is out and we are almost halfway through 2017. As we are reviewing May’s month-end performance, it’s a good time to look at the big picture themes driving markets as we enter into the summer months.
School is out and we are almost halfway through 2017. As we are reviewing May’s month-end performance, it’s a good time to look at the big picture themes driving markets as we enter into the summer months.
Local business coach and speaker Perry Maughmer shared the article below in his company newsletter this week. We thought you would enjoy seeing these tips from Mark Twain for how to live a great life! (note: want to subscribe to Perry’s newsletter, Archimedian Point or learn more about his coaching services – contact him at perry@perrymaughmer.com.) Mark Twain was a prolific writer, satirist, humorist and lecturer, and he always had some sort of quirky, sometimes ironic, wisdom on just about everything. As the author of books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, his prominent place in literature has been forever cemented in history.
Last week two members of The Joseph Group’s investment team, Travis Upton and Aaron Filbeck, were in Denver, Colorado meeting with fund managers at the Westcore Funds. Westcore manages mutual funds and institutional accounts in a wide range of strategies including small company growth stocks, dividend paying stocks, corporate bonds, and international small company stocks. Travis and Aaron had the opportunity to discuss markets and strategy with all of the different fund management teams and gain valuable insights for The Joseph Group’s investment committee.
Perhaps you read the recent Columbus Dispatch article on Michelle Melland. She’s the 50 year old wife and mother of twin teenage girls who battles ALS, the incurable, paralyzing and eventually fatal disease otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Can you name the local high school that has 100% of its seniors accepted to one or more colleges? Upper Arlington? Bexley? Columbus Academy? CSG? Nope, it’s Cristo Rey Columbus the amazing downtown Catholic school that provides a college preparatory education to under-served central Ohio youth from all faiths who come from economically challenged families. More than half of that school’s seniors will be the first in their families to attend college! Talk about a game changer – this school is producing pioneers – young people whose futures will be radically transformed because of this life changing high school.
Looking at performance for different areas of the U.S. stock market, small cap stocks are the weakest performers so far in 2017. While the Morningstar Large Company Blend average is up about 4.5% year-to-date (through April 19th), the Morningstar Small Blend average is essentially flat for the same period.
With a backdrop of political headlines and strong economic data, most asset classes posted positive results for the first three months of 2017. What we found most interesting though was the change in leadership from the end of 2016. Areas of the markets which led the markets immediately after Trump’s election lagged in the first quarter, while areas which did not perform as well in November and December of 2016 were the market leaders in the 1st quarter of 2017.
Greg Knopp, one of my college fraternity brothers, now lives in Washington DC and serves as the Executive Director, Political Affairs for the American Council of Engineering Companies. In a recent newsletter to his members, Greg shared the following:
“After 35 years in the advocacy business, the best secret I’ve learned about growing your organization (or yourself, for that matter) is that there are no secrets. What makes a real difference is a commitment to the fundamentals, to what Covey referred to as “principles.” Jim Rohn put it this way: “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals. ”It’s not fun. It’s not sexy. It requires focus, hard work and patience. But when you trust both the process and yourself, you will see results.”
We’re sorry to share that our father, Joseph Palmer, died last Friday March 10th. Dad would have been 86 on March 22nd. We are so thankful to God for his long and good life and we are so thankful that God gave dad to us – what a priceless gift! If we can love the way dad loved as a husband, father, grandfather and friend, we will have lived well indeed.
Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve increased their upper target for the Federal Fund Rate (think short-term interest rates) from 0.75% to 1.00%. The increase was the second rate hike in the last three months, but only the third hike since the global financial crisis. We share with you some of our thoughts on the response to the Fed rate hike from different areas of the financial markets.