This “Little Engine That Could” market has just completed 3 straight quarters of growth. For those of you who have matured in your reading material, “The Little Engine That Could” is the folktale about a steam engine that was determined to pull the train over the mountain to bring gifts to the children on the other side. The naysayers have been vocal, just as the other trains did not believe in the small engine in the tale. The fed has raised rates at a more aggressive clip than we have ever seen, in effect creating a mountain to climb that seems to be insurmountable. With the bulk of the interest rate hikes behind us, the Fed is signaling they may raise rates again slightly. It feels like this market may “I think I can” through the doom and gloom of the interest rate spike. Many companies continue to post positive numbers and the economy continues to show strong employment keeping things chugging along.
So what is driving this “Little Engine That Could?” Much of the growth in the stock market has been concentrated in the tech sector, with the usual suspects of Google (Alphabet), Facebook (Meta), Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. A lot of the optimism is around the implementation of AI, or artificial intelligence. The uses could be vast for many industries and the race is on to see how it can help companies perform better. Just to be clear, I wrote this myself and will not be using ChatGPT to write my newsletter.
On the Personal Side:
This summer has been a blur. The end of dance competitions was followed by graduations and then a lot of time on the road. My girls are now young women and I am so grateful that they are much more responsible than I ever was at their ages. Lately, it has been an especially sweaty blur. Our neighborhood tradition of putting our kids in trucks and baking them in the sun to celebrate Independence Day only included Amelia this year. In a few weeks I will take the girls for their first visit to California to visit my dad and Yosemite Park. The girls are in full on friend phase and I am loving my role as their Uber driver.
On the Business side:
We have completed our name change. TMRW is a simplified, shorthand for the word “tomorrow” and we feel like it embodies our goal of simplifying your financial future. If you get a moment, please check out our new website. We would love to hear any feedback you may have. This name change is a better fit for our long term goals as we now work for 3 and 4 generations and plan to be around much longer than just me. We are the same company, the same people and the same ownership and look forward to serving you for years to come.
Social Media:
We want to connect with you more via social media. Let’s connect on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter at @tmrwwealth, or follow our page on Facebook. We will be posting regularly on our blog as well so be sure to check it out from time to time.
Introductions:
The absolute worst part of working for families is that people do not live forever. We have the honor of working for a lot of great families and when people pass away, we help their loved ones navigate many of the complexities of settling an estate. Having to deal with settling an estate can be overwhelming, especially on top of the loss of a loved one. If you know of someone who could use assistance with this, please pass along our information.
Online Access:
If you have already set up your account and would like to access your accounts, click here.
The Bus:
The purpose of the bus is to support all the amazing nonprofits in the area. As more events are being schedule for charitable organizations and auctions and raffles are being put together, we want to donate more. We love to donate certificates for the bus to various charity auctions. If you would like to use the bus, you can email [email protected] to inquire about it. For more information on the bus, you can go to www.whythebus.com.
Third Quarter Outlook:
There is a lot going on in the markets now. From our point of view, the top four things for investors to watch in the third quarter of 2023 could be:
- Inflation and Interest Rates: As the economy and companies continue to perform well despite higher interest rates, will the Federal Reserve continue its campaign. With inflation down significantly from last year this time, what will the Fed do?
- Commercial Real Estate: COVID has changed the way we work and untethered so many people from the office. With many companies deciding to stay remote, many cities are looking at a lot of empty office spaces. As these lease terms come due, what will happen? The owners of many of these properties will have some challenging situations as debt terms are renegotiated.
- Artificial Intelligence: Many companies are just now exploring how to implement AI into their business and the various uses it does have. Will the hype continue to grow and is this the next great technology boom in its early phase?
- Russia: The troops seem to be getting restless along with the rest of the country. How will things unfold?
As always, we are here to help and grateful for the opportunity to serve you and your loved ones.
With gratitude,
Matt Logan
Disclosures: Investors cannot invest directly in indexes. The performance of any index is not indicative of the performance of any investment and does not take into account the effects of inflation and the fees and expenses associated with investing. The views stated in this letter are not necessarily the opinion of Cetera Advisors LLC and should not be construed directly or indirectly as an offer to buy or sell any securities mentioned herein. Due to volatility within the markets mentioned, opinions are subject to change without notice. Information is based on sources believed to be reliable; however, their accuracy or completeness cannot be guaranteed. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The S&P 500 is a capitalization-weighted index of 500 stocks designed to measure performance of the broad domestic economy through changes in the aggregate market value of 500 stocks representing all major industries. The Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which used to be called the “Lehman Aggregate Bond Index,” is a broad base index, maintained by Barclays Capital, and is often used to represent investment grade bonds being traded in the U.S. Barclays Capital (BarCap) U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is made up of the Barclays Capital U.S. Government/Corporate Bond Index, Mortgage-Backed Securities Index, and Asset-Based Securities Index, including securities that are of investment grade quality or better, have at least one year to maturity, and have an outstanding par value of at least $100 million.
