There are additional factors that could be contributing to the market's broadening. Investors have their fingers crossed that the Fed will become more cooperative after Chairman Powell's term ends in May.

Joe Shearrer, CPFA® is Vice President and Wealth Advisor at Fervent Wealth Management.   This winter has been anything but predictable. In our area, temperatures have swung from the 70s one day to brisk 30s the next, reminding us how quickly conditions can change. Financial markets have shown similar swings recently, keeping investors alert even as overall trends remain intact.   After beginning the year at near record levels, U.S. stock markets have begun to move with greate

Stocks had another strong year in 2025, enjoying their third straight year of double-digit returns.

Joe Shearrer, CPFA® is Vice President and Wealth Advisor at Fervent Wealth Management.   I’ve been in this business long enough to see investors go through several versions of the Federal Reserve, from crisis fighter to inflation watchdog. What’s different today isn’t just policy; it’s how much uncertainty surrounds it. For years, investors could count on the Federal Reserve to play a familiar role: steady, predictable and largely insulated from politics. When markets stumble

Joe Shearrer, CPFA® is Vice President and Wealth Advisor at Fervent Wealth Management.   Every December, as holiday parties fill the calendar and year-end checklists get shorter, the stock market picks up a familiar storyline: the Santa Claus Rally. You’ll hear it mentioned on financial news channels and in market commentaries, usually with a mix of optimism and skepticism. Some investors swear by it. Others dismiss it as folklore. As with most things in investing, the truth

Dr. Richard Baker, AIF®, is the CEO and executive wealth advisor at Fervent Wealth Management.   My wife is a little disappointed. We are recent empty-nesters, and for the first time in years, there is no one home to look forward to her Advent calendar full of little notes and candy. Still, her disappointment isn’t anything like the disappointment that Europeans are feeling this winter.   For years, European leaders told their citizens that if they went all in on the green en

Dr. Richard Baker, AIF®, is the CEO and executive wealth advisor at Fervent Wealth Management.   I was pheasant hunting in South Dakota with my boys this last weekend, and we frequently found ourselves on roads with deep mud holes. If it weren’t for our four-wheel drive, we would have been in a mess. Broadening traction is good for mud and even better for the market. Right now, the market advance is expanding across multiple sectors, which is a big positive.   Markets have re

Dr. Richard Baker, AIF®, is the CEO and executive wealth advisor at Fervent Wealth Management.   The neighboring town near where I grew up has an old Missouri Pacific railroad roundhouse. It was already out of use when I was a boy, but it still fascinated me that big steam engines would be driven onto a turntable and rotated around to change directions. There are more tracks today, so it’s easier to turn trains around, but changing directions is still a big deal, maybe even m

Joe Shearrer, CPFA® is Vice President and Wealth Advisor at Fervent Wealth Management.   Several summers ago, I hiked to the summit of Mount Bierstadt in Colorado—one of the state’s more popular fourteeners. The climb up was challenging yet straightforward: a wide trail, a steady pace and clear footing. But the real adventure came next. From Bierstadt’s peak, I crossed the narrow “Sawtooth” ridge that connects to Mount Evans.   The Sawtooth isn’t for the faint of heart. On on

There is wisdom in having international holdings in your portfolio. It gives you diversification because global stocks and other governments are not in lockstep with the U.S.

These single-stock varieties have become popular among investors who tend to be gamblers. They have the potential for high returns but also huge losses.

Dr. Richard Baker, AIF®, is the CEO and executive wealth advisor at Fervent Wealth Management.   I was recently speaking with one of my best friends, who is a pilot, about flight turbulence. He said there are two kinds of turbulence: natural turbulence caused by weather (wind) and pilot-induced turbulence, which happens when a pilot makes a mistake.   We are beginning to see some increased turbulence (market volatility), but is it a change to overall maket conditions or is it

Dr. Richard Baker, AIF®, is the CEO and executive wealth advisor at Fervent Wealth Management.   I read recently that a young Australian Shepherd dog was missing after a traffic accident, and everyone was to be on the lookout. Though he was a pet, his breed's original job was to herd sheep. Another great shepherding tool was the use of a bellwether, where the farmer put a bell around the neck of the lead sheep, causing the rest of the flock to stay grouped around him.    Inve

Joe Shearrer, CPFA® is Vice President and Wealth Advisor at Fervent Wealth Management.   When the world feels uncertain — inflation high, government debt ballooning, central banks under pressure — investors tend to look beyond the dollar for a safety net. Gold, the age-old hedge, often leads that retreat. But to understand why, you must see them not as speculative gambles, but as symptoms of a deeper impulse: the urge to preserve value when faith in paper money wavers.   Gold

The Fed sets the overnight banking rate, which is used as a baseline for other loans, but is not used for mortgage rates.

Inflation remains above the central bank’s 2% target, but signs of a cooling labor market — slower job creation, rising jobless claims — appear to have convinced policymakers that keeping rates elevated may do more harm than good.

It was the kind of milestone that made both politicians and investors consider the fiscal health of the world’s leading economies, and they probably didn’t like what they saw.

For nearly a century, September has been the S&P 500’s weakest month. Since 1928, the index has averaged a decline of just over one percent and has finished lower more than half the time...