Weekly Market Commentary 12/25/2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA US equity markets were mixed in a holiday-shortened week. Corporate news was limited but influenced individual issues while trade was relatively subdued.    Investors continued to focus on Washington...

Weekly Market Commentary 12/18/2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Choppy trade action throughout the week led US stock indices to another set of all-time highs. Coronavirus stimulus package negotiations dominated headlines while the December Federal Reserve meeting affirmed...

Weekly Market Commentary 12/11/2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Market action was mixed for the week.  Hope for another tranche of stimulus and positive news on a coronavirus vaccine's progress aided market sentiment early in the week.  However, COVID-19 infection rates...

Weekly Market Commentary 12/4/2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA US equity markets hit another set of all-time highs last week.  Positive price momentum carried over from a strong November into the start of December, and more positive news on Covid-19 vaccines coupled with the...

Weekly Market Commentary 11/27/2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA US financial markets hit all-time highs during the week, with the Dow surpassing the 30,000 mark for the first time.  If markets can hold on to gains in Monday’s trading session, it will become the best November...

Weekly Market Commentary 11/20/2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Financial markets were mixed last week.  Cyclicals continued to outperform on news that Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccine trials have shown excellent results.  3rd quarter earnings continued with better than...

Weekly Market Commentary 11/13/2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Financial markets rallied to all-time highs on news that Pfizer and BioNTech have a 90% effective Covid-19 vaccine.  The news induced a robust rotation trade out of Mega-cap Technology shares into value-oriented...

Weekly Market Commentary 11/6/2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA It was an extremely busy week on Wall Street.  The election results were top of mind for investors, and given the current expected outcome gave investors reason to buy risk assets.  The Federal Reserve Open...

October 30th, 2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Markets sold off in what was a hectic week.  The earnings and economic calendar were stacked.  Coronavirus infection rates ticked higher and induced lockdown measures in France, Germany, and the UK, which hindered sentiment. ...

October 23rd, 2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Markets traded sideways for much of the week as investors continued to watch Washington fail to negotiate another tranche of stimulus.  3rd quarter earnings continued to roll-out with results coming in mixed.   The familiar...

October 16th, 2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA US Market averages were little changed for the week.  The beginning of 3rd quarter earnings started with ho-hum results from the financials, some transports also missed the mark, and a high flying cloud computing company,...

October 9th, 2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Markets extended their rally last week on optimism around another tranche of stimulus.  Value-oriented small-cap cyclicals were in favor and sent the Russell 2000 up 6.4% for the week.  The S&P 500 gained 3.8%, the Dow was...

October 2nd, 2020 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Financial markets rallied last week, putting an end to four straight weeks of losses.  Investor optimism was stoked early in the week on news that the Administration and Democrats were working on a fiscal stimulus compromise. ...

September 28th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Volatile Markets Continue as We Approach an All-Important Earnings Season U.S. equity indexes continue to experience heightened volatility. This has been the case for much of September and should come as no...

September 21st, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group A Necessary Dose of Reality Equity markets resumed selling after the Federal Reserve meeting last Wednesday. The 50-day moving average on the S&P 500 was promptly broken, and closed well beneath that important...

September 14th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Volatile Markets and Wildfires Continue, But Not All News is Bad Markets continue to be volatile this week as investors try to determine whether we have come too far too fast off the March lows. The good news is...

August 31st, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Is the S&P 500 a True Reflection of the U.S. Economy? The S&P 500 has officially closed out weekly trading at new all-time highs. It is now up nearly 8% for the year. We have watched this “broad” index battle...

August 24th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Tech Companies Lead the S&P 500 to Record Highs This past week the S&P 500 battled resistance at its previous all-time highs (just below 3400). We had two consecutive record closes, only to fall back after...

August 18th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group There are Many Unknowns, but the Market Continues to March On The S&P 500 and the Dow continue their respective attempts to break through the all-time highs established in February. Both major indices have been...

August 10th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group The S&P 500 Inches Closer to All-Time Highs, Encouraged by Q2 Earnings Major equity indices are positive for the year. The Nasdaq is now at all-time highs on the back of blowout performance from Amazon, Google,...

August 3rd, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group All Eyes on Congress Equity markets continue to push higher in the face of ongoing uncertainty. We discussed last week that the next probable stop for the S&P 500 (SPY) is the February high of 3400. We continue to...

August 3rd, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group All Eyes on Congress Equity markets continue to push higher in the face of ongoing uncertainty. We discussed last week that the next probable stop for the S&P 500 (SPY) is the February high of 3400. We continue to...

July 29th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Trust the Process My apologies to everyone for the late commentary this week. I spent the last five days on a golf and BBQ tour across the beautiful state of Arkansas in an RV with my son Jack. Truth be told, we only...

July 20th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group The S&P 500 Turns Positive for the Year The benchmark S&P 500 index has officially broken out above 3200 and, in doing so, broken out of its two -month trading range. We have been watching this unfold for...

July 13th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Equity Markets Show Strength Ahead of Bank Earnings Equity markets moved to the high end of their trading range over the past week. For those keeping track, the S&P 500 has been rangebound between 3000 and 3200 for...

July 7th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Midyear Outlook: Acknowledging Where We Are To start, I hope everyone had a safe and restful July 4th holiday. Time spent with family and friends is what matters most. The older I get the more that reality sinks in. I...

June 22nd, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Covid-19 Cases Spike in the U.S. as Boeing Resumes 737 Max Test Flights The S&P 500 closed on Friday just below its 200-day moving average. This was the culmination of a 5% drop for the week. The Dow and Nasdaq...

June 22nd, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Which Way Will the Market Break? U.S. equity markets continue to be range bound but hold above the all-important 200-day moving average at 3000 (S&P 500). I read over the weekend that there remains a record amount...

June 15th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Markets Show Important Reversal at Even More Important Level Two weeks ago, we commented on the ongoing test faced by the broad indices at their respective 200-day moving average. We noted that if equity markets were...

June 1st, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group The Stock Market Continues to Climb as Protests Spread Nationwide Equity markets closed out the month of May with big gains. The S&P 500 climbed more than 5% for the month despite a lot of volatility. Swings of more...

May 26th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group What Investors Can learn from Today's Market Equity markets worldwide continue to climb in the face of dire economics. In two decades of investing I have never seen a starker example of investors immediately setting the...

May 18th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Markets Closed Up Big Today Amid Positive Coronavirus Vaccine Results The past week saw continued volatility as equities sold off Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday just below the 200-day moving average and right at the late...

April 27th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Will COVID-19 Change Our World (and our Markets) Forever? As our country begins to consider reopening for business, I am left wondering how we will forever be changed? Will we shake hands with new acquaintances? Will...

- David Young, CFA Oil Prices: A Primer Like many commodity contracts in the investment world, oil futures trade on a time-based curve. By this, we mean that oil futures contracts have different expiration dates. At the expiration date a contract holder takes...

April 14th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group The Investment Process Magnified to the Tenth Degree Investors in markets of all types continue to try and assess the damage to corporate earnings that will be seen over the next few months as a result of the...

April 7th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Market Swings Continue Among Coronavirus Optimism Equity markets continue to experience wild swings in both directions. Last week, we saw two big up days, mixed in with three down days. The S&P 500 finished down...

March 30th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Americans Come Together as Markets Close Out Worst Quarter Since 1987 Stock markets around the world are trying to stabilize after the historic drop we have seen this month. Swings of 4% a day have been the rule for...

March 23rd, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group U.S. Economy and Day-to-Day Life Comes to a Complete and Sudden Halt On behalf of everyone here at Cabana, I want to wish our clients, investor partners and friends good health and peace at this time. What we are...

March 16th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Market Volatility Spikes to Record Highs U.S. and international equity markets dropped 11% just today and are down almost 20% this month alone. Year to date, the S&P 500 is down more than 25%. COVID-19 started in...

March 9th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group All True Investing Takes Process and Perspective Given the continued bloodbath we are seeing in stocks, this commentary serves as follow up to the Special Report we released just over a week ago, on February 29. In...

February 19th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Dow Plunges as Coronavirus Spreads to South Korea, Iran and Italy As soon as we mentioned the first sign that the coronavirus was impacting earnings (Apple lowered forward guidance), the virus broke out of general...

February 19th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Apple Reports Coronavirus Threat to Tech Earnings have continued to drive equity prices higher throughout the first half of February. This has occurred in the face of a variety of external threats, including...

February 10th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Q4 Earnings Continue to Beat Expectations and Provide Investors with Hope U.S. corporate earnings continue to roll in beating expectations on both the revenue and sales side. The S&P 500 earnings growth rate...

February 4th, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group The Emotional Stock Market vs. the Wise Old Bond Market Last week, we discussed the coronavirus outbreak and implications it might have on markets going forward. I provided some statistics related to previous...

January 27, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Markets React to the Coronavirus Fears Just as quickly as the drumbeats of war with Iran quieted, we became overwhelmed with news of a rapidly spreading potential pandemic coronavirus. The virus started in China and...

January 21, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group The Temperature is "Just Right" In recognition of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, this commentary is as of Tuesday, Jan. 21.  U.S. equity markets closed last week at new all-time highs. Foreign markets appear to...

January 13, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group News-Driven Market Predictions Can Be a Recipe for Disaster What a week! In just about seven days, we (the U.S.) and the world have stepped back from the brink of war with Iran, Iran has shot down a civilian aircraft...

January 06, 2020 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Trusting the Markets Among Rising Middle East Tension I hope everyone had a happy and heathy holiday! The older I get, the more I realize that we don’t get do overs in life. Let’s all strive to make 2020 the best year...

December 23rd, 2019 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group 2019: A Great Year for Investors of all Types On behalf of everyone at Cabana, I would like to thank our clients and investor partners for your continued belief in us. Without you we could not do any of the things...

December 16th, 2019 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Investors Welcome a U.S.-China Trade Deal With Open Arms Equity markets around the world continued to grind higher last week and moved up again today. The much-anticipated trade resolution with China came through...

November 11, 2019 Chadd Mason, CEO The Cabana Group Money Rotation Continues to be Bullish This past week we saw major U.S. indices tread water at their all-time highs. Underneath the hood, money is rotating from low beta assets such as bonds, real estate, utilities...

The Fourth Quarter Rally We've Been Hoping For The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed last week at all-time highs. Several weeks ago, we noted improving conditions, which resulted in our reallocation to add risk assets back on during the week of Oct. 21. Other market...

Week Two of Economic Improvement Last week, we noted overall improvement in underlying economic conditions. That trend has continued. Earnings here in the U.S. have been better than expected, with a number of upside sales surprises. This data suggests that the ongoing...

October 21st, 2019 Improvements at Home and Abroad Relatively strong earnings reports over the past week in the U.S. helped push our major stock indexes back within reach of their all-time highs. Banks and other financial firms brought in stellar reports. This has...

October 14th, 2019 Does the News Really Matter? Equity markets set politics aside last week and focused on renewed hope of a trade deal between the U.S. and China. Initial reports were that the two countries had agreed to a “phase one” (of several) compromise. It was...

October 7, 2019 Chadd Mason The Jury is Still Out Last week saw more of the same volatility that has plagued equity markets since April. Over the past six months there have been no less than five trends encompassing moves up/down in stock prices greater than 5%. These...

September 30th 2019 Eyes Wide Open and the Glass Half Full The past week saw continued selling in U.S. equity markets. The S&P 500 ended slightly more than 2% below alltime highs. Given all the recent impeachment noise, mixed messages regarding our trade with...

September 23, 2019 Fed Cuts Interest Rates Again as We Continue to Keep our Head Above Water During the past week, major U.S indexes reached resistance at summer highs before pulling back and churning 1.3% lower (S&P 500). On Wednesday, Chairman Powell and the...

Market Commentary for the Week Ending 9/13/2019 -Darren Leavitt, CFA It was an exciting week on Wall Street as US markets posted their third weekly advance.  A de-escalation of trade tensions along with new central bank stimulus measures from the ECB and decent...

Market Recap week ending 9/6/2019 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Last week, the markets had their second consecutive weekly advance.  More constructive headlines on trade negotiations between the US and China helped market sentiment.  During the week China announced that trade...

Market Recap week ending 8/30/2019 -Darren Leavitt, CFA After four straight weeks of declines, US markets rallied in the last week of August.  The prior week’s escalation of trade tariffs between the US and China took a bit of a siesta last week. Early in the week,...

Market recap for the week ending 8/23/19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Investors were treated to another week of volatile markets as increased trade tensions between the US and China cast even more uncertainty on global growth.  Markets kicked off the week in pretty good form...

Market Recap Week ending 8/16/19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA A volatile week of trading entertained investors as uncertainty around trade, and an inverted yield curve stoked fears of an impending recession.  The major US equity indices ended the week with losses; however,...

Market Recap Week ending 8/9/19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA It was a turbulent week for investors as uncertainty on trade escalated between the US and China.  Markets started the week deep in the red with the worst single-day performance of the year on news that the Chinese...

August 5th, 2019 Stock Market Selloff Deepens After Fed Remarks and Trade Negotiation Setback As of this writing, stock markets around the globe are taking a beating. The selloff began on Wednesday of last week in response to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s...

Market Recap for the week ending 7/26/2019 -Darren Leavitt, CFA It was an upbeat market last week as investors continued to applaud the majority of earnings results.  A better than expected print on 2nd quarter GDP also aided the positive sentiment.  Markets were also...

Market Recap for the Week ending 7/19/2019 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Despite a relatively good start to  2nd quarter earnings season, the major indices retreated last week.  Part of the pullback was likely due to the realization that a 50 basis point cut is not likely at...

Markets Hit New Highs in the Wake of Last Week's Fed Remarks Chairman Powell walked the line between giving too much and too little in the way of monetary accommodation during prepared remarks to Congress last week. Markets have responded positively and are at...

Market Recap week ending 7/5/2019 -Darren Leavitt, CFA I hope everyone had a great and memorable 4th of July holiday.  Despite the holiday-shortened week, markets were quite busy.   Markets surged on Monday in reaction to the outcome of the US/China trade talks at the...

07/01/2019 Below is a snapshot of last week's market performance and what to watch in the weeks ahead from Chadd Mason, Cabana CEO and co-founder. Markets Rally with Hopes of a U.S.-China Trade Deal Last week, and the entire month of June for that matter, ended on a...

Market Recap Week ending 6/21/2019 -Darren Leavitt, CFA US equity markets continued to rally last week and hit record highs on dovish tones echoed from several central banks and on constructive headlines around the upcoming meeting with President Trump and President...

June 17th, 2019 Below is a snapshot of last week's market performance and what to watch in the weeks ahead from Chadd Mason, Cabana CEO and co-founder The rebound from the May selloff continues. After dropping 6.4% in May, the S&P 500 has reclaimed 4.5% of that...

June 10th, 2019 Below is a snapshot of last week's market performance and what to watch in the weeks ahead from Chadd Mason, Cabana CEO and co-founder. Last week’s commentary noted that the stock market was at a critical juncture. All relevant U.S. indexes had fallen...

June 3rd, 2019 Below is a snapshot of last week's market performance and what to watch in the weeks ahead from Chadd Mason, Cabana CEO and co-founder. The U.S. equity market selloff has continued for the third straight week. All major indexes are now below their...

Market Recap week ending 5.24.19 Darren Leavitt, CFA The markets continued to focus on the potential for more trade conflict between the US and China.  Conflicting headlines throughout the week brought more volatility.  Cyclical stocks took the brunt of last week’s...

Market recap week ending 5.17.19 Darren Leavitt, CFA Investors were taken for a wild ride last week as trade negotiations between the US and China came to a stalemate.  Additionally, increased tensions in the Middle East put a bid into oil, which closed up 1.7% but...

Market recap week ending 5/10/19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Markets had their worst week of the year due to concerns regarding the US-China trade negotiations.  The week started with steep declines after President Trump indicated that tariffs on 200 billion in goods would...

Market Recap Week Ending 5.3.19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Financial markets yielded mixed results last week as investors endured a choppy week of trading.  Q1 earnings reports continued to produce better than expected results.   Investors focused on solid results out of...

Market Recap Week ending 4/26/19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The broader indices inked new all-time highs last week as Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon all posted better than expected earnings.  The S&P gained 1.2% but was outpaced by the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 which...

Market Recap week ending 4.18.19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The holiday-shortened week was an interesting one but produced a mixed bag of results for the major indices.  The S&P 500 lost 0.1% on the week while the Russell 2000 lost 1.4%.  The Dow outperformed with a...

Market Recap for the Week Ending 4-12-19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA It was a mixed performance for the major averages last week.  The S&P 500 gained 0.5%, the NASDAQ added 0.6%, and the Russell 2000 was up 0.1%, while the Dow lost 0.1%.  Treasuries lost more ground last...

Market Recap for the Week ending 4.5.19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The stock market started the second quarter with nice gains and forged new highs for 2019.  The S&P 500 gained 2.1%, the Dow increased 1.9%, the NASDAQ added 2.7%, and the Russell 2000 outperformed with...

Market Recap Week ending 3.29.19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Markets had nice gains last week as investors seemed to shrug off the most recent concerns over global growth.  The S&P 500 gained 1.2% on the week, gaining just over 13% for the first quarter.  The Dow added...

Market Recap Week ending 3.22.19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA It was another extremely busy week for Wall Street.  Investors received the latest statement from the Fed Reserve Open Market Committee that appeared to be more dovish than anticipated.  Additionally, there were a...

Market Recap for the week ending 3.15.19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA It was an extremely busy week for the markets.  Central bank news, corporate headlines, trade negotiations, technical variables, and a full dose of economic data were in play last week.  The market shrugged...

Market Recap Week ending 3.8.19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Economic growth concerns along with the inability of the S&P 500 to maintain a key technical level hobbled the market last week.  The market lost ground for five consecutive days.  For the week, the S&P 500...

Market Recap Week ending 3.1.19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Last week the proposed increase of trade tariffs on China was postponed while negotiations continued between the countries. Markets continued to view the negotiations as constructive although comments from US Trade...

Market Recap Week ending 2/22/19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The markets were relatively quiet last week as investors waited for any news stemming from the ongoing US-China trade negotiations.  Investors were also treated to a full dose of Fed rhetoric along with the FOMC...

Market Recap Week ending 2.15.19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Markets enjoyed a nice rally last week.  The Russell 2000 led the way with a gain of 4.2%, the Dow added 3.1%, the S&P increased by 2.5%, and the NASDAQ advanced 2.4%.  Treasuries sold off a bit last week with...

Market Recap for the week ending 2/8/19 Darren Leavitt, CFA Anxiety over trade and concerns regarding future earnings growth subdued markets last week.  Additionally, the 200-day moving average on the S&P held as a line of resistance and induced some technical...

Market Recap for the Week ending 2/1/19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA It was, as expected, a hectic and interesting week in the financial markets.  A steady stream of earnings announcements and economic data were just part of the story in last week’s action.  An FOMC meeting...

Market Recap for the Week Ending 1/25/19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The markets closed Friday with a nice gain, but for the week the markets were generally flat.  The S&P 500 lost 0.2% on the week while the Dow and NASDAQ each gained 0.1%.  The Russell 2ooo was...

Market Recap for the week ending 1/18/19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Despite somewhat disappointing corporate earnings results and a failed Brexit vote, markets continued to rally last week.  The S&P 500 gained 2.9% for the week while the Dow, NASDAQ, and Russell 2000...

Market Recap for the week ending 1/11/19 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Constructive rhetoric from US/ China trade negotiations along with more dovish iterations from Fed officials helped markets continue their rally last week. The S&P 500 gained 2.5% for the week while the...

Below is a snapshot of 2018’s performance and what to watch in coming year from Chadd Mason, Cabana CEO and co-founder.   Looking back on 2018… Equity markets ended the year down across the board. International markets fared the worst, all down double digits. U.S....

-Darren Leavitt, CFA Markets started 2019 in the same manner it left off in 2018, with extreme volatility.  A preannouncement from Apple, a much stronger than anticipated jobs report, and a more measured tone out of Fed Chairman Powell, provided investors plenty to...

Market Recap week ending 12/28/18 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Wow, what a week for the markets- if you were out for the holidays you missed a historic week on Wall Street.  Extremely oversold conditions coupled with year-end portfolio rebalancing and the fact that many were...

Below is a snapshot of last week’s market performance and what to watch in the week ahead from Chadd Mason, Cabana CEO and co-founder. I would like to start this week’s commentary off by thanking all of our clients for their support and trust in us. I got into this...