Given the continuation of S&P 500 stock price declines in 2022, which briefly touched a new “bear market” on May 20, 2022, we are sharing another set of our Special Comments. As the financial media has been emphasizing recently, bear market means a decline of 20% or more from a previous high. While infrequent, these substantial down markets do happen; …

Whenever the financial markets experience unusual declines, Park Piedmont Advisors has made it a practice to write Special Comments to supplement our regular Monthly Comments. During 2022, we have already written two such Special Comments, the first as of January 21 and the second as of February 24. The S&P 500 stock index closed at 4,272 on April 22, after …

Hall of Fame baseball manager Casey Stengel is reported to have said, “Never make predictions, especially if they’re about the future.” Stengel’s quip helps us pose our question this month: let’s say you had a crystal ball – and assume for the purpose of this hypothetical it is a functional crystal ball – would knowing the outcome of key events …

When we discuss stock prices at Park Piedmont Advisors, we usually are referring to the price level of the S&P 500 stock index, a broadly diversified set of approximately 500 companies, mostly large and based in the US. We also recognize that there are many other ways to participate in the stock market. To the extent these other alternatives are …

As the year 2022 stock price declines have continued through most of February, we are writing to follow up on our January Special Comments. February’s YTD figures − which include the remarkable gains from yesterday (February 24th), when Russia invaded Ukraine and the intraday price range (low to high) was 4% (using the S&P 500 to represent the US stock …

January 2022 was a month of significant price volatility for stocks. Since rising interest rates/inflation continue to be mentioned as important factors in this stock price volatility, and these same factors influence changes in bond prices, we are focusing this month on bond price volatility. In the financial markets, volatility refers to the extent to which prices fluctuate, both up …

During periods when stock price declines attract the attention of many people outside the financial and investment communities, it has been Park Piedmont’s (PPA) practice to share our perspective. We want to emphasize the importance of taking a longer-term view of investments and avoiding the short-term, day-to-day fluctuations of the markets, which are driven by those seeking to benefit from …

As we move into the new year, many articles review the year just completed. For example,  Neil Irwin’s article in the New York Times reports that “[f]or people who study the vicissitudes of the economy… 2021 has been a year in which economic dynamics that had seemed entrenched for decades came apart, or changed in fundamental ways. Workers attained the …

Since the financial media continues to stress the importance of inflation on financial market prices, we will once again discuss this topic (the most recent previous coverage was in April 2021). Inflation refers to a situation in an economy where prices in general are rising. When this occurs, the impact is that the same amount of money buys less, also …

PPA discusses asset allocation regularly in our monthly commentaries. This concept refers generally to the amounts invested in stocks and bonds, and how this split determines the risk-return trade-off as we help you pursue your long-term goals. Once we’ve established an asset allocation customized to your situation, a second level of analysis focuses on asset location, or where it makes …