Market and Economic Commentary - Week Ending 02/21/2020 S&P Posts First Loss in Three Weeks The S&P posted its first weekly loss in three weeks as investors fretted over the coronavirus’ impact on global growth. With the spread of the coronavirus appearing to have picked up pace outside of China, traders were forced to consider whether the impact of the virus will be worse than feared. Returns in the Markets for the week ending 02/21/2020 were as follows: US Major Market Indexes (The first number is each category in the 1-week performance. The second number is the year-to-date performance) Dow Jones 30 Industrial Average (-1.38%. +1.59%). S&P 500 (-1.25%, +3.31%). NASDAQ Index (-1.59%, +6.73%). US Small-Cap Index (-0.54%, +0.60%). CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), or Fear Gage, (+24.85%, +23.95%). US Sector ETFs Communication Services (-1.44%, +4.64%). Consumer Discretionary (-1.06%, +3.89%). Consumer Staples (-0.22%, +2.65%). Energy (-0.81%, -9.83%). Financial (-...

Market and Economic Commentary - Week Ending 02/14/2020 US Stock Markets closed higher for a second week in a row, as upbeat fourth quarter results and the strength of the US economy overshadowed fear of the coronavirus. Returns in the Markets for the week ending 02/14/2020 were as follows: US Major Market Indexes (The first number is each category in the 1-week performance. The second number is the year-to-date performance) Dow Jones 30 Industrial Average (+1.02%, +3.01%). S&P 500 (+1.58%, +4.62%). NASDAQ Index (+2.21%, +8.45%). US Small-Cap Index (+1.83%, +1.11%). CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), or Fear Gage, (-11.57%, -0.73%). US Sector ETFs (The first number is each category in the 1-week performance. The second number is the year-to-date performance) Communication Services (+1.93%, +6.13%). Consumer Discretionary (+2.63%, +5.00%). Consumer Staples (+0.82%, +2.87%%). Energy (+1.11%, -9.09%). Financial (+0.81%, +1.27%). Health Care (+0.86%, +2.03%).   Industri...

Market and Economic Commentary - Week Ending 02/07/2020 Global stock markets rebounded last week after posting declines for the prior two weeks. Returns in the Markets for the week ending 02/07/2020 were as follows: US Major Market Indexes (The first number is each category in the 1-week performance. The second number is the year-to-date performance) Dow Jones 30 Industrial Average (+3.00%, +1.98%). S&P 500 (+3.17%, +3.00%). NASDAQ Index (+4.04%, +6.11%). US Small-Cap Index (+2.73%, -0.62%). CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), or Fear Gage, (-17.89%, +12.26). US Sector ETFs (The first number is each category in the 1-week performance. The second number is the year-to-date performance) Communication Services (+3.62%, +4.16%). Consumer Discretionary (+2.39%, +2.30%). Consumer Staples (+1.714%, +2.03%%). Energy (+1.01%, -10.09%). Financial (+3.20%, +0.45%%). Health Care (+3.93%, +1.16%%). Industrials (+3.93%, +2.68%). Materials (+4.27%, -2.17%). Real Estate (+1.61%, +3.28%). Tec...

BVA Value Momentum Portfolio Strategy - Year-to-Date Performance as of January 31, 2020: Year-to-date, the BVA Value Momentum Portfolio Strategy return is up 9.25% compared to a decline of 0.09% for the Morningstar US Market Index. Since the start of the portfolio on January 2, 2019, the BVA Value Momentum Portfolio Strategy return is up 163.48% compared to an increase of 26.10% for the Morningstar US Market Index. The stocks on the strategy list currently have a price to fair value of .77 vs 1.04 for the Morningstar coverage universe. Market and Economic Commentary - Week Ending 01/31/2020 Virtually all global stock market and commodity indexes were down for a second week in a row. There was a continued flight to safety for the week as US Treasuries, Gold and the VIX were about the only asset classes to rise for the week. The VIX, or Fear Index, again registered the largest gain and the Baltic Dry Index registered the largest loss for the second consecutive week. Retur...