Category Archive

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 …

During September 2021, the three major US stock indices declined between approximately 4.5% and 5.5%, with nine down days out of twenty-one total trading days. The financial media found it necessary to attribute causes to declines of this magnitude. But the frequent price increases in the midst of declines make the effort to attribute daily causation highly suspect. What we …

After another month of modest, slow and steady gains in the financial markets, even in the face of what seems to be unrelenting negative news in the “real world,” we consider the existence of so many “winners” in the financial markets, compared with what appears to be precious few losers  A recent piece by Jason Zweig in his “Intelligent Investor” …

Asset Allocation, as our clients and readers know, refers to the diversification of an investment portfolio among a variety of liquid asset classes. At Park Piedmont (PPA), we use four such asset classes: Cash Equivalents; High Credit Quality Bonds; High Yield/Lower Credit Quality Income; and Stocks. In times of modest market price changes, allocations that have been established to meet …

With financial markets showing modest changes in May, even with Inflation fears and improving economic activity continuing to dominate the financial media (see also our April 2021 Comments), we add the impact of government actions to our discussion. While the market-based private sector dominates U.S. economic activity, there are times when government action plays a crucial role. When the Coronavirus …