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Bears, Bottoms, and Budding Opportunities
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 1/17/19

The fourth quarter of 2018 did not usher in the typical year-end rally that investors have come to expect in recent years. Global equity markets got off to a weak start, failed to recover, and ultimately plummeted, as weak business indicators collided with perceived governmental policy risks with respect to the Federal Reserve.

Under Pressure
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 7/20/18

In the second quarter volatility waned and performance decoupled as divergent backdrops created variances in returns for assets classes and markets across the globe. The winning trades for the second quarter were in the U.S. energy sector, U.S. small companies, and a select group of technology and consumer discretionary stocks.

Volatility Awakens: A Market Review
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 4/20/18

The beginning of the first quarter was serene and pleasurable, as equity markets levitated on the back of increasing earnings expectations and solid world economic underpinnings. But the market euphoria didn’t last long.

Third Quarter 2017 Market Review – Climbing The Wall of Worry
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 10/20/17

The third quarter of 2017 was highlighted by unfavorable seasonal effects and a steady stream of nerve wracking geopolitical developments, but despite a challenging environment world equity markets persistently fought off short-term jitters and closed out the quarter solidly in the green.

Second Quarter 2017 Review & Outlook – Game Plan for a Market Hangover
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 4/23/17

Overall, the first quarter was a positive one for investors. However, as the second quarter gets underway, markets seem to be entering an overdue post-election hangover phase. For now, the overall weight of the evidence suggests the backdrop remains constructive, and thus any pullback should provide an opportunity to adjust portfolios to take advantage of anticipated policy changes that have so far been delayed, but are still likely to fall into place eventually. Of course, there are also risks to the outlook, so we’ll continue to look for signs of more deterioration that could create an unexpected detour on our roadmap.

Hangovers and Roadmaps
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 1/23/17

2016 began with a thud and ended with a bang. After one of the worst-ever starts to a year, U.S. stocks managed to rebound and ultimately finish the year with solid gains.

A Low Conviction World
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 10/20/16

The third quarter was a fairly placid one for investors, though there was major diversity in return profiles depending on what asset class, sector, or country one was invested in. In the U.S., the leading sector was clearly technology stocks, while elsewhere, Japan, Emerging Markets, and European stocks also had positive returns for the quarter.

Pinnacle’s Q2 Market Review
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 4/28/16
The beginning of 2016 started in an emotional frenzy, as world markets dropped sharply out of the gates on fears of a sputtering world economy, plummeting commodity prices, a stubbornly hawkish Federal Reserve, and a decelerating earnings backdrop. The violence of the move in January was stunning, and by early February the number of world markets that had fallen more than 20% from their highs clearly argued that a bear market across the globe was taking place.

Bearish Tendencies (and silver linings)
by Team of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 1/28/16
2015 had many twists and turns, but from a financial market perspective, it was effectively a road to nowhere when looking across a variety of asset classes. In U.S. equity markets, large company stocks (large cap) barely moved as just a few sectors and stocks were big winners. In the broad market, many stocks performed far worse than the large cap averages and gave investors the false impression that the market was generally flat.

Market Review
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 8/5/15
The summer heat has finally arrived, and it’s naturally coincided with lower volume markets that are prone to the rumor mill and news flow. The second quarter of 2015 was choppy, but included some reversals in behavior across asset classes. Domestic equity markets bounced around in a flat range, while broad emerging equity markets declined slightly on the quarter.

Pondering Halftime Adjustments
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 5/2/15
At the beginning of the year, we wrote about an aging bull market that we thought could be ridden, but with the caveat that one wouldn’t want to take too much risk given the magnitude of the move, current valuation levels in the U.S., and an overall evidence profile that was clearly mixed with pockets of both strength and weakness. When weighing the evidence, our dashboards offered no reason to reach for additional risk this late in the cycle, but instead we tried to focus on some big picture themes that could help us find attractive opportunities to position for.

Riding An Aging Bull (Market)
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 2/10/15
The year has begun in roller coaster fashion, and our team has been busy reading and digesting the many 2015 outlooks that come across our desks. But reading is the easy part, and now it’s our turn to distill the many facets of our process into a workable thesis that allows us to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns in this maturing market cycle.

It’s Not Time to Pull the Portfolio Ripcord… Yet
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 7/23/14
The second quarter started in somewhat choppy fashion as small cap and other high flying momentum stocks continued to face pressure as investors decided to shed stocks with swollen valuation multiples. The major averages fared better than their risky counterparts, and after a brief dip stocks began their ascent towards record breaking highs on the back on improving economic data, decent earnings growth, and continuing liquidity support from global central banks.

Approaching a Pause? A Market Review
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 4/15/14
First quarter market performance was as whippy and volatile as the weather. Unusually cold temperatures in the U.S. not only froze much of the countrys population, but it also wreaked havoc on the quality of economic data, and kept markets on edge regarding how investors should be positioned. Geopolitical issues also rose from the ashes as various emerging markets had currency issues and Russia showed poor sportsmanship and invaded the Ukraine shortly after the conclusion of the Olympic Games.

The Goldilocks Conundrum: A Market Review
by Rick Vollaro of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 3/12/14
When we decided to ride the central bank liquidity wave in 2013, we knew there was a chance the market could have a pretty good year, but like most investors we were pleasantly surprised with the gains that the U.S. stock market delivered. Including dividends, the S&P 500 Index soared by 32%, well in excess of what even the most optimistic prognosticators envisioned at the start of the year.

Market Volatility
by Eckel of Pinnacle Advisory Group, 1/23/08
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