The S&P 500 was down 6.94% and the All-World Ex-US index was down 8.21% for the month of October. Its scary out there – Happy (belated) Halloween!

…during the last 5 years of the bull market that ended in 2000, the S&P 500 suffered 7 pullbacks of 7.5% or more while climbing 147%

Major US markets finished September with positive returns with the S&P 500 index up 0.43%…

At last check, most markets around the world were down for the year, with only the USA and France showing gains.

July is a wrap. The S&P 500 was up 3.60% and the Barclay’s Aggregate Bond Index was up 0.02%. The Nasdaq is where the fireworks happened with Facebook (FB) falling 11% for the month (after a drop of 25% on missed earnings) and Netflix (NFLX) falling 13%.

I begin with a happy birthday wish to my (not so) little sister, Taylor… Have a great one, I love you!

It has been busy around the Elevate offices (and the world) since our last post. Trade wars seem to be intensifying daily with the "Tweeter in Chief" firing from the hip.

US Markets are under a bit of pressure this morning (the first day of the new quarter) with World Cup matches between Brazil & Mexico (8am MTN) and Belgium & Japan (12noon MTN).

All good things come to an end.

All eyes are on trade talks this week with the G7 meetings coming up in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada on Friday and Saturday. The press is coining it the “G6 + the United States”. Given the current state of geo-politics, this meeting could produce some market moving tweets!

Congratulations to our very good friend and client John Fazio and his company N3rd Street Gamers!

Major stock indexes are finally breaking out of a months-long sideways trend, to the upside.

We remain bullish with a healthy dose of caution.

I am looking forward to attending the Grant’s Interest Rate Observer Spring Conference today. This event is held twice each year and features the best minds that finance has to offer.

Turns out Friday was a tough day for the markets, too.

Yesterday was a tough day in the stock markets. The DOW finished down 724 points, almost 3% for the day. The other indexes didn’t fare much better.

Since the lows in stock indices on February 7th, markets have roared back roughly 8%. Despite the rally, most investors will be opening their first statements showing a monthly loss in quite some time.