To Inform:  We are in the early stages of second-quarter earnings announcements in the U.S., and things are looking positive. In order to grow earnings every year, there are really three levers a company can pull: Revenue Growth – is the company growing their sales numbers? Margin Expansion – is the company reducing costs and/or […]

To Inform:  In this week’s informational WealthNote, we are excited and proud to share our Portfolio Manager Aaron Filbeck, CFA, CAIA, CIPM,’s new whitepaper that explores why we look at the investment universe the way that we do. Portfolio Manager Aaron Filbeck, CFA, CAIA, CIPM   When our clients are shown a visual representation of […]

To Inform:   At yesterday’s Portfolios at Panera discussion, an attendee said, “It seems like all of this tariff talk is making stocks bounce around and it has nothing to do with the fundamentals of the companies.”  Yes, we’ve noticed that too….in fact, as I’m writing this, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average an hour […]

To Inform:   Since my oldest son is preparing for the ACT this summer, this week’s To Inform portion of Wealthnotes is a test question: Based on popular market indexes, which of the following statements is CORRECT? U.S. stock performance is flat this year U.S. stock performance is up double digits this year U.S. stock performance […]

To Inform:   On June 13 the Federal Reserve increased short-term interest rates by 0.25%, taking the upper end of the range of the Fed Funds rate from 1.75% to 2.00%.  Was the market surprised by the increase?  Not at all!  Due to strong economic and employment data, the market was not only expecting this rate […]

To Inform:   Earlier this week we held our monthly Portfolios at Panera session and had a terrific discussion about the “why” behind our allocation and fund manager decisions.  One of the big topics on people’s minds seemed to be bonds.  With stock market volatility increasing and interest rates higher, is now a good time to […]

To Inform:     Aaron Filbeck, portfolio manager, recently traveled to New York City to attend an investment conference. One of the keynote presentations focused on the future of emerging markets, essentially dividing future growth drivers into three themes: Technological Disruption. The rise of mobile payments is changing how sectors do business. In emerging markets, wallets are quickly […]

To Inform:   Last week the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury bond hit 3% for the first time in over four years, prompting major headlines in the Wall Street Journal and much discussion at last week’s Portfolios at Panera.  However, in The Joseph Group’s Investment Strategy Team meetings, it’s not the rate on the 10-year […]

To Inform:   At The Joseph Group, we are not big market technicians who look for patterns in market charts, but we do want to be cognizant of investor behavior.  Despite talk of trade wars, social media privacy, and Russia, on down days for stocks, the S&P 500 is bouncing around the same levels it hit […]

To Inform:   As we are typing this note, the S&P 500 is slightly positive year-to-date 2018, but it’s time to look under the hood.  To use a car analogy, the engine may be keeping things moving forward overall, but some components are working harder than others. Out of the 500 stocks that make up the […]