No, we are not advertising socks here at White Raven Financial. Or, maybe we are; but in our own creative way. Those of us who work here happen to like cool socks and we tend to wear them occasionally just because of who we are. I guess it might say something about us – that we are all unique individuals. If we were ambitious, we could have the U.S. Congress declare a “cool sock day” although we have since learned that the word “cool” isn’t really “in” anymore. But you get the gist. We recently read an article about Tribalism and crowd following written by Vitaliy Katsenelson. But, if you wore cool socks, are you following the crowd or are you trying to articulate who you are in a different kind of way?
We here at White Raven Financial believe every single one of our clients is a unique individual. We work hard to learn what is important to that person; their goals, their dreams, their family, hobbies, health and a wide range of topics that appear in the conversation. Whether it is managing their investments, doing a budget, or creating a financial plan; we develop it for the uniqueness of the individual or the family. So next time you visit us; you may even wish to wear your own cool socks.
Several headlines celebrated the news of the October employment report which exceeded expectations. This appeared to bring optimism that the U.S. economy will continue to expand. News on the trade front was also quite positive with China’s Ministry of Commerce noting that a consensus was reached on core issues.… and the USTR confirmed that they are resolving outstanding issues. Briefing.com felt that the latest job report was a positive sign for continued economic expansion and not indicative of an economy that is on the brink of a recession. Even with the U.S. labor market showing resistance, it is noted that one important downside was reported for the month – U.S. business investment has continued to decline. But the headline received mostly a cursory glance from most analysts.
A pickup in global growth was mentioned by Blackrock in their Q4 Global Outlook – November update blog. The blog cited the de-escalation in current trade tensions and the easing of Brexit as being some of the main drivers to supply the stimulus. American Funds – Capital Group in their late October International Investing in 2020 – felt that even though the global landscape remains uncertain, the international sector can hold promise and cited the benefits of diversification. The markets do involve risk as prices rise and fall; that is a given. When the market goes up; the ride feels leisurely but when the market goes down it feels more intense – thus it is wise to remember to stay within our risk tolerance so that it may help balance the ride.
October, for the major markets, displayed many of the autumn colors throughout the month and found at least one of the indices hitting a record high. Alas, the blue-chip barometer (the Dow)* was not one of those, but did end the month in the green with a 0.48% gain. The S&P 500 (SPY)* ended the month in full colors with a 2.04% gain. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite (COMPTR)* showed that their Fall leaves were the richest in color and sparkled with a 3.66% gain. (*After linking, click on Quarterly & Monthly Total Returns, “Monthly” tab.) On Tuesday, October 29th, the Dow Jones Indices released the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller report. The 20-city composite Home Price Index in August reported a 2.0% annual gain; no change from the previous month year-over-year posting. Before seasonal adjustments, month-over-month data had the month of August showing no change over the prior month of June for the 20-city composite index.
Regards and Thank you,
The Team at White Raven Financial
*Indexes are unmanaged and do not reflect service fees, commissions, or taxes. You cannot invest directly in an index. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Return for the DOW, S&P500 and the NASDAQ is the total return (price only) provided by Morning star Inc. as of 2019October31. Diversification and asset allocation do not assure or guarantee better performance and cannot eliminate the risk of investment loss.
*The Standard and Poor’s 500 is an unmanaged, capitalization weighted benchmark that tracks broad-based changes in the U.S. stock market. This index of 500 common stocks is comprised of 400 industrial, 20 transportation, 40 utility, and 40 financial companies representing major U.S. industry sectors. The index is calculated on a total return basis with dividends reinvested and is not available for direct investment.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average covers 30 blue chip U.S. companies selected by the editors of the Wall Street Journal. The Dow represents about 25% of the NYSE market capitalization and less than 2% of NYSE issues.
*The NASDAQ is a market-value weighted index that measures all NASDAQ domestic and foreign common stocks.
