Market and Economic Commentary - Week Ending 01/24/2020 Market Recap – Key Take-Aways for the Week Virtually all stock market and commodity indexes around the world declined last week. There was a flight to safety as the safe-haven Utilities, Government Bonds and Precious Metals were about the only asset classes to rise for the week. Two significant and troubling things happened last week. The first was a large rise in the VIX, also known as the “Fear Gage. The second was a large drop in the Baltic Dry Index. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 20.33% for the week and was by far the largest increase in any asset class for the week. The large increase in the VIX was a significant development in the markets this week, as there has been a lack of fear or complacency in the markets for quite some time. The Volatility Index (or VIX) is created by the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The VIX represents the market’s expectation of the 30-day forward looking volatility. It is deriv...

Market and Economic Commentary - Week Ending 1/10/2020 Market Recap January 10th marks the end of the first full week of trading for 2020. In this week's report I will comment on the performance of Major World Market Indexes year-to-date as well as significant events in markets and economies around the world. In the United States year-to-date, the Morningstar US Total Market index is up 1.07%, the Dow 30 is up 1%, the S&P 500 is up 1.07%, the NASDAQ is up 2.30%, and the Morningstar US Small Cap Index is down 0.35. The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, (also known as the fear gage) is down 8.85%. In global markets, the Nikkei 225 is up 0.82%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index is up 1.59%, the Shanghai Composite is up 1.47%, the UK FTSE 100 is up 0.60%, and the German Dax is up 1.77%. In Major Commodities, Gold is up 1.025%, WTI Crude Oil is down 3.75%, and Brent Crude Oil is down 1.55%. In the Bond Market, the 10-year US Treasury Interest Rate declined from 1.919% at th...

BVA Value Momentum Portfolio Strategy - Year-to-Date Performance as of December 31, 2019: Year-to-date, the BVA Value Momentum Portfolio Strategy return is up 161.36% compared to an increase of 28.64% for the Morningstar US Market Index. The stocks on the strategy list currently have a price to fair value of .72 vs 1.04 for the Morningstar coverage universe. Since the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing great recession, central banks around the world, including the US Federal reserve, have flooded the markets with trillions of dollars of cash, simply by printing money. This has provided the liquidity to drive markets in the US to all-time record highs. In many cases stocks have risen to levels which are far beyond their estimated fair value. These actions by the US Federal reserve and other central banks have served to support both the economy and markets around the world. These actions, however, have also resulted in a global level of debt far higher than anything seen before in...