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We are all influenced by early experiences in our careers. I think in the financial services industry this rings especially true. I joined Salomon Smith Barney’s (SSB) Private Client Group in the Fall of 1999 and began the training program that would last nearly six months. My first month as a Financial Advisor at SSB Read More

The S&P 500 rebound from the March lows has been extraordinary by any measure but is it sustainable? Healthy, sustainable bull markets in stocks require broad participation, that is, most stocks should be participating in the uptrend. How does the current market breadth compare historically and what does it say about the health of the Read More

Since I began my career in the late 1990s, there has been persistent chatter from goldbugs and others predicting that a return to sharp inflation is always just around the corner. In the years after the dot com bust, inflation picked up as the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to stimulate the economy. However, following Read More

Would you rather invest with a financial expert or an investment manager that harnesses the collective wisdom of market participants? Many investors think successful money managers must possess a better crystal ball or have expert knowledge that others do not possess. However, time and again the markets demonstrate that experts are poor at predicting the Read More

Most people look to an index when following the health and trajectory of the stock market. However, all indices are not created equal and can lead to very different pictures of the health of an economy. Let’s look at how some of the major US indices are constructed and the pictures they are painting. Charles Read More