Markets finished January in stellar fashion. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 6.2% and 2.9%, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite finished January up 10.7%, its hottest start to a year since 2001 (though that came in the middle of the dot-com crash when the index ended up finishing the year down 21% before falling another …
In 2022, international conflicts had a profound effect on overseas markets. I had an opportunity to join the folks at Symmetry to discuss the top stories that drove markets last year. Listen to this first part of “2022 Year-in-Perspective” to learn how global events affected international stocks this past year. Click here and listen to …
Markets closed out another strong week and are off to a roaring start this year. The rally in tech stocks has powered the NASDAQ to one of its best Januarys. This bullish enthusiasm is largely being animated by a narrative that a Fed pivot/pause is coming, which was buoyed by the slate of economic data …
The second week of the year saw markets continue to rally…stocks were up (especially small caps), bonds were up, oil was up, gold was up…even cryptocurrencies painted the big board green…all mainly on the increasingly hopeful outlook of a decreasing need for the Fed and other central banks to raise interest rates to the point …
The year kicked off with a volatile, albeit positive, week in the markets as stocks rallied following a well-received monthly jobs report. Here are the main stories that were driving markets. (read more)
To weave data-driven ideas effectively into a story, we must first simplify complicated concepts and leverage the power of analogies. Psychologists have identified that asking your audience to process a great deal of raw data, statistics, or complex information is cognitively challenging, and you risk diluting the impact of your message to mental fatigue. Instead, …
I once attended a presentation given by Nobel Laureate Eugine Fama (he of the “efficient market hypothesis” fame) to a group of investment professionals. He began his remarks by illuminating a screen with a large grid of numbers by way of an overhead projector, turned his back on the audience to survey the numbers, turned …
What is the difference between sharing data and telling a compelling story? Raiders of the Lost Ark! You read that right…it’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. Please take a moment to think about how you would describe the movie in two or three sentences to someone unfamiliar with the story. If our goal is to …
Don’t let the data get in the way of a good story! Read More »
“A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.” ― Graham Greene, The End of the Affair The moment of experience that marks the beginning of our story and informs our reason for being (raison d’etre), arrived during the depths of …
