Q2 Slow But Steady/Detroit Bankruptcy
Q2 Earnings, Slow But Steady As of Friday night, 108 companies had reported results in this Q2 earnings season, and they have been decent-not great, not bad, but decent. Of the companies that had reported as of Friday’s close, earnings growth has come in better than expected at 3.6%, according to S&P’s Senior Index Analyst, […]
Market Brief: Earnings-Low Expectations
Markets have been fixated of late on the daily comments of various Fed officials. One will say that they favor ending quantitative easing (“QE”) sooner rather than later, and markets would likely have sold off for the day. The next day, another would say that the decision on QE would be data dependent. In response, […]
Oregon Could Be the First State to Send Students to College Tuition-Free
Oregon is on its way to becoming the first state to implement a radical new program that would let students attend state schools without taking out a single loan or paying out of pocket. The “Pay it Forward, Pay it Back” plan lets students enroll with no money down, so long as they agree to […]
Independence Day Office Hours
Our office will be closed Thursday, July 4th and Friday, July 5th to allow our team to celebrate with family and friends. As we at SFA prepare to enjoy our July 4th /Independence Day plans; fireworks, food, company, travel, etc… we will also take the time to reflect on what this holiday means to us. […]
What If I Fall? We All Have To Ride Alone Eventually
“Market volatility may increase in the short term. It almost always does with policy change. But, the end of Q.E. will mean that, longer-term, things are getting better, not worse.” ~Capital Allocation & Management Market Brief, June 17, 2013 Most of us have taught our children to ride bikes. They start with training wheels, they […]
Update on Fed Policy, Unemployment, and Stock Market
Most major U.S. stock markets peaked in mid-May and have been trailing off in a fairly orderly fashion ever since. The selloff has been small-as of Friday’s close, the S&P 500 was down about 3.5% from the all-time high-yet it has been enough to get people talking. Much of the move has been blamed on […]
SFA ‘Green’ Event Results Are In…
On Saturday, May 18, Security First Advisors held a free ‘green’ shred, electronics recycle and ‘ask the organizer’ event. If you were one of the clients who came by and dropped off paper or electronics we would like to thank you for your participation. In all, we learned that in your efforts to offload in […]
Round Numbers, Do They Matter?
Weekly YTD 12 month 3-May-13 26-Apr-13 % Change % Change % Change S&P 500 Index 1,614.42 1,582.24 2.03% 13.20% 17.92% Dow Jones Industrial Average 14,973.96 14,712.55 1.78% 14.27% 14.85% Nasdaq Composite 3,378.63 3,279.26 3.03% 11.89% 14.28% Russell 2000 954.42 935.25 2.05% 12.37% 20.53% MSCI EAFE (International) 1,749.86 1,729.64 1.17% 9.09% 16.37% 10 Year U. S. […]
Midpoint Earnings Update
We are now just past halfway through earnings season, as 269 of the 500 S&P 500 constituents have reported results… Our economy and the corporate earnings picture remains in slow growth mode. Of the companies that have released results so far, earnings have grown at about 3.8%, year-over-year, according to Standard & Poor’s. It’s not […]
Facts and Misconceptions Behind Our Tax Code
Another tax day is behind us. Here are some interesting facts and misconceptions behind our tax code… 1) The saying “The only constant is change” applies to taxes as well. Our current federal tax policy is complex. It contains around four million words and there are over 400 tax forms on the IRS’s website. It […]