Market Update: March 21, 2025
Welcome to the Monthly Market Update from Signature Wealth Management. I’m Brian Ransom, Research Director from Signature Wealth and here’s what happened in the market this month. Today marks the 5-year anniversary of the 2020 Covid Pandemic low. At the time, the market had fallen about 33% over the course of 3 weeks, marking one of the fastest developing bear markets of all time. The market tripped 4 circuit breakers in 10 days where all trading was halted [...]
The Stock Market is a Market of Stocks
Brian Ransom, CFA, MBA, MS Research Director Signature Wealth Management Group Duh, Brian! It’s purposefully redundant to call the stock market a market of stocks. But sometimes I wonder if people truly understand what the “stock market,” is. By definition, the stock market is a basket of assets ranging from ~$500,000 in market value all the way up to $3.4 trillion. As of the end of 2023, there were approximately 55,214 stocks that could be purchased throughout the world. On any [...]
Southern Company Update, 4th Quarter 2024
Below is the trend that Southern Company and other utilities are facing over the next 5-15 years. Electricity consumption is, for the first time in about 20 years, expected to increase. That’s the chart on the left. In the 1960-1990’s American homes saw significant technological developments including refrigeration, HVAC units, personal computing, television, etc. Each development required a significant increase in electricity generation. Since the turn of the century, however, residential electricity demand has been flat. Same with industrial electricity consumption. [...]
Growth Scare
A “growth scare” by definition is a sudden fear the economic expansion is faltering. With the S&P 500 and Nasdaq recently hitting one-month lows, signs of unease are appearing. Many interconnected concerns are fueling this apprehension, from policy uncertainties in a new administration to deteriorating macroeconomic signals. And this is happening at a time when the Federal Reserve is still focused on bringing down inflation. The most recent inflation number reported by truflation.com is 2.33% (see below), so very close to [...]
“Ol’ Man River”
The expression “Ol Man River” has been in our vernacular as a moniker for the Mississippi River since it was introduced as a song in the Rogers and Hammerstein musical “Showboat” in 1929. Now whether your memory takes you to Paul Robeson’s unworldly bass vocals in the movie version from 1936, or Chevy Chase’s clip singing to his family as they are crossing the “Mighty Mississip” in National Lampoon’s “Vacation,” will probably be generational. But the visual I am trying to [...]
New Year, Auld To-Do Items
As clocks chimed midnight and the sounds of champagne corks, kazoos and the familiar Auld Lang Syne resonated amid hugs with family and friends, the calendar officially turned the page to 2025. This timeless celebration allows us to recall fondly the memories, friends and experiences of the previous year and embrace the new year with an open heart, new beginnings and infinite possibilities. Dreadfully, it was not long into the new year before the celebration turned to sorrow in New Orleans. [...]
Market Update: December, 23, 2024
Welcome to the Monthly Market Update from Signature Wealth Management. I’m Brian Ransom, Research Director from Signature Wealth and here’s what happened in the market this month. To end the year, the market had a strong rally following the results from the presidential election. But we have run into a bout of volatility in the middle of December. Causing the spike in volatility was a clear change in language and direction from the Federal Reserve that caused a sharp [...]
Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later
As we live in a free country, sometimes, Uncle Sam gives us a choice. When it comes to the taxation of retirement accounts, he takes the stance – “Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later”. Back in 1972, Fram Oil Filters used this slogan in a commercial. They claimed someone could pay the premium price for a Fram Oil Filter now, or, pay a mechanic later to fix all the problems caused by using a different oil filter. They eluded that [...]
Don’t Get Spoofed by Pig Butchering
In this article, we would like to address a topic other than investments and the markets. Recently, there has been a new scam in social media that takes advantage of individuals looking for investment advice. The scammer will impersonate a well-known individual in the investment community: Tom Lee, Josh Brown, Cathie Wood, and many others, luring people into WhatsApp groups via targeted advertising. Because it’s a sponsored advertisement, the post can look legitimate. The FBI calls it "spoofing". But the internet [...]