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Market Commentary For the week of February 1, 2021 The Markets U.S. stocks suffered steep losses Friday to close a roller coaster week on Wall Street. Volatility caused by retail investors’ heightened speculative trading and new...

Three weeks ago, GameStop (ticker: GME) was known as a store that millennials may have visited in their childhood to shop for video gaming consoles and accessories. That quickly changed when the price of GameStop stock surged more than...

Market Commentary For the week of January 25, 2021 The Markets Stocks were mixed Friday as COVID-19 concerns resurged and the future of President Biden’s proposed stimulus package remains uncertain. The S&P and the Dow closed...

Market Commentary For the week of January 19, 2021 The Markets U.S. stocks fell Friday following disappointing retail sales data and big bank earnings reports. Investors also feared President-elect Joe Biden’s ambitious stimulus...

Market Commentary For the week of January 11, 2020 The Markets Stocks closed higher Friday, with the S&P at a record high, despite the Capitol riots and a negative jobs report. Investors appeared buoyed by President-elect Joe...

If You're a Spender- This is for You!

Nathan Elvers, CLU, ChFC

Monday, January 11, 2021

If you're a spender, you know how difficult it is to actually follow a budget and save money. In fact, you might not even give a crap about trying anymore. Today’s world allows you to spend in a click of a button. Think about how...

Market Commentary For the week of January 4, 2021 The Markets U.S. stocks rose on the final trading day of a tumultuous year. Amid pandemic-related closures and a global recession, equities plunged into a bear market in February and...

Market Commentary For the week of December 28, 2020 The Markets All three major indices ended a shortened holiday week on an up note as investors digested surging virus cases, the ongoing vaccine rollout, uncertainty over the Georgia...

Market Commentary For the week of December 21, 2020 The Markets The Dow Jones, S&P 500, and NASDAQ fell Friday, after all three indices briefly reached records earlier in the day. Investors balanced prospects of a stimulus package,...

Market Commentary For the week of December 14, 2020 The Markets The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ ended Friday with modest declines despite the FDA’s emergency use authorization of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 16...

Market Commentary For the week of December 7, 2020 The Markets Stocks rose Friday despite a disappointing November jobs report and rising coronavirus cases. Expectations of a new fiscal relief bill helped all three major indices close...

Market Commentary For the week of November 30, 2020 The Markets Stocks rose on a shortened, post-Thanksgiving Friday as retailers kicked off the holiday shopping season and coronavirus cases rose. The S&P and NASDAQ closed at record...

Newly Announced IRS Retirement Plan Limits for 2021

Nathan Elvers, CLU, ChFC

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Each fall the Treasury Department announces inflation adjustments to tax-advantaged retirement accounts and income limits for the following tax year. They recently announced contribution limits and changes for the 2021 tax year.For...

Market Commentary For the week of November 23, 2020 The Markets Stocks closed lower Friday amid rising coronavirus cases, increased state-level shutdowns, and fiscal stimulus developments. On Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven...

Market CommentaryFor the week of November 16, 2020 The Markets Stocks rose Friday amid upbeat earnings reports and a surge in virus cases. Positive vaccine news helped the Dow and the S&P achieve strong weekly gains. On Monday, Pfizer...

Market CommentaryFor the week of November 9, 2020 The Markets Amid uncertainty surrounding the presidential election, U.S. stocks closed mostly flat Friday. But Wall Street saw its best weekly gains since April. For the week, the Dow...

Market Commentary For the week of November 2, 2020 The Markets Stocks fell sharply Friday, led by major tech shares. The S&P and the Dow saw their biggest weekly losses since the March sell-off. Rising coronavirus cases, stalled...

Market CommentaryFor the week of October 26, 2020 The Markets Stocks ended a downbeat week mixed as investors followed officials’ comments on the status of another stimulus bill. Although unemployment benefits provided by the...

Market Commentary For the week of October 19, 2020 The Markets Stocks were mixed on the final day of a volatile week. Encouraging reports on retail sales and consumer confidence lifted the major indices. The NASDAQ posted its fourth...

Market Commentary For the week of October 12, 2020 The Markets U.S. stocks rose Friday amid renewed optimism over another stimulus package because of talks between House Democrats and the Trump administration. The S&P and NASDAQ had...

Market Commentary For the week of October 5, 2020 The Markets On Friday, the markets reacted negatively to the news that President Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, adding more uncertainty to the upcoming election. The major...

Market Commentary For the week of September 28, 2020 The Markets It was a choppy week on Wall Street as investors weighed rising coronavirus cases, the upcoming presidential election, and uncertainty over another stimulus bill....

Market Commentary For the week of September 21, 2020 The Markets The major stock indices fell Friday, contributing to their third straight weekly loss. Investors demonstrated concern over uncertainty about an additional round of...

Market Commentary For the week of September 14, 2020 The Markets Stocks ended Friday’s volatile session mixed; the NASDAQ ended lower while the S&P and Dow Jones rose. The three major indices all posted steep losses for the week....

Market Commentary For the week of September 8, 2020 The Markets Despite August’s positive jobs report, stocks fell Friday, and the three major indices saw steep declines for the week. The S&P experienced its worst day in nearly...

Market Commentary For the week of August 31, 2020 The Markets Stocks rose Friday. The Dow erased its losses for the year, and the NASDAQ and the S&P reached new record closes. July’s U.S. consumer spending encouraged investors,...

Market Commentary For the week of August 24, 2020 The Markets Stocks rose Friday, and the NASDAQ and the S&P achieved record closing highs as several pieces of positive news encouraged investors. New reports showed better than expected...

Market Commentary For the week of August 3, 2020 The Markets Stocks closed Friday’s session and the month of July higher after trading lower earlier in the day. Uncertainty over the next stimulus package and falling consumer...

Market Commentary For the week of July 27, 2020 The Markets Stocks fell Friday, ending a volatile week of trading and marking the first weekly decline in four weeks. Negative factors included rising concerns of another tech bubble,...

Market Commentary For the week of July 20, 2020 The Markets Stocks were mixed Friday. Despite surging coronavirus cases, investors appeared relatively optimistic about potential vaccines for COVID-19 and a post-pandemic economic...

Market Commentary For the week of July 13, 2020 The Markets Stocks rose Friday, and the NASDAQ reached a record high as investors weighed positive and negative headlines. U.S. coronavirus cases broke a record for a single day increase...

Market Commentary For the week of July 6, 2020 The Markets Stocks rose Thursday following an unexpectedly positive June jobs report. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 4.8 million from May’s 2.7 million, achieving the largest single-month...

Market Commentary For the week of June 29, 2020 The Markets Stocks dropped sharply Friday as several states reversed some reopening plans after coronavirus cases rose. Bank stocks fell after the Federal Reserve limited dividend...

Market Commentary For the week of June 22, 2020 The Markets Stocks were up and down Friday as investors digested news of virus resurgences in pockets around the globe. At the close, the NASDAQ was up slightly, while the Dow and S&P...

Market Commentary For the week of June 15, 2020 The Markets It was a choppy week on Wall Street amid fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections as states reopen and crowded protests continue. Stocks saw their worst sell-off since...

Market Commentary For the week of June 8, 2020 The Markets Stocks rose sharply Friday after the Labor Department reported the U.S. economy added 2.5 million jobs in May and unemployment dropped to 13.3 percent – compared to an...

Market Commentary For the week of June 1, 2020 The Markets Stocks ended mostly higher on Friday after the White House said it would end special treatment of Hong Kong in light of China’s recent security crackdowns but did not...

Market Commentary For the week of May 18, 2020 The Markets The market was volatile on Friday as investors digested a record drop in retail sales and increased trade tensions with China as the Trump administration imposed new...

Are you eligible for a stimulus check from the Treasury Department?As of Friday, April 24, the Internal Revenue Service said it had issued 88 million payments to individuals across the country. It plans to send out more than 150...

Market Commentary For the week of May 11, 2020 The Markets Stocks rose Friday despite the worst jobs report on record; the Labor Department reported the nation lost 20.5 million jobs in April. However, investors were encouraged by...

Undeniably, spring 2020 has tried the patience of investors. An 11-year bull market ended. Key economic indicators went haywire. Household confidence was shaken. The Standard & Poor’s 500, the benchmark for the broad stock...

Market Commentary For the week of May 4, 2020 The Markets Even though the drug remdesivir received emergency use authorization for treating hospitalized coronavirus patients, stocks fell on the first day of May amid disappointing...

Market Commentary For the week of April 27, 2020 The Markets It was a choppy week on Wall Street as investors digested the ongoing oil crisis, manufacturing stress, staggering jobless claims, a new economic aid package and slowing...

Market Commentary For the week of April 20, 2020 The Markets: Despite massive unemployment reports, stocks rose sharply Friday amid discussions on reopening parts of the economy and hopes surrounding an experimental drug to treat...

Market Commentary For the week of April 13, 2020 The Markets Stocks closed higher on the final trading day before the holiday weekend. Investors appeared to dismiss jobless numbers and focus on the Federal Reserve’s announcement...

Market Commentary For the week of April 6, 2020 The Markets Stocks slid on the final day of another volatile week, amid dismal unemployment and a spike in coronavirus-related deaths in New York. Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York,...