Wall Street Archives - Page 2 of 20 - Acropolis Investment Management

22 Sep 2025

We Need New Words for an Age-Old Debate

Perhaps one of the longest-running debates in the investment industry is the so-called “active vs. passive” debate. Most people understand it this way: Will active managers who pick stocks (or bonds) fare better than index funds? The industry of stock-pickers says yes; the index fund companies say no way. The name “passive” is just terrible. It sounds like nobody is doing anything, when in fact index investing is a reflection… Read More

By David Ott Tags: Active Investing, Passive Investing, Portfolio Strategy, Portfolio Theory, Stocks, Volatility, Wall Street

15 Sep 2025

The Labor Market is Cooling

The jobs market is cooling down. The unemployment rate in August was 4.3 percent. In the pandemic, the unemployment rate peaked at 14.8 percent, but fell to 3.4 percent in April 2023. While the modest tick up from 3.4 to 4.3 percent isn’t great, some of the recent payroll data hasn’t met expectations either. The most recent monthly reading showed that just 22k jobs were created, less than expectations. Worse… Read More

By David Ott Tags: Economy, Labor Market, Markets, Unemployment Rate, Wall Street

28 Jul 2025

Heat Wave Inflation: A Decade Running Hot

Last week, I described Vanguard’s take on growth and inflation, and it got me thinking about inflation. In general, I was comforted by their views, which I characterized as ‘Steady as She Goes,’ but the inflation number started to bother me a little bit. Their forecast is for core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE), which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure for inflation, and Vanguard projected 3.0 percent for 2025 and… Read More

By David Ott Tags: CPE, CPI, Inflation, Markets, Stocks, Wall Street

21 Jul 2025

Steady as She Goes: Vanguard’s Take on Growth and Inflation

Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting a very sharp economist from Vanguard who shared the firm’s latest views on the economy. I found the conversation illuminating because it helped cut through much of the noise we often hear in the financial media. I’m not suggesting their forecasts are more or less accurate than anyone else’s. That’s an impossible standard, since no one knows what the future holds, especially… Read More

By David Ott Tags: Economy, Federal Reserve, GDP, Inflation, Markets, Wall Street

14 Jul 2025

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is now law. It’s a 940-page document, and I haven’t read it, but my reliable tax sources are highlighting some of the key provisions for individuals that I thought you might find helpful. Before I get into the OBBBA (or OBBB or OBB; they’re still working on the acronym), it’s worth noting that Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe signed a bill that will eliminate individual… Read More

By David Ott Tags: Markets, One Big Beautiful Bill, SALT, Social Security, Taxes, Wall Street

16 Jun 2025

Let’s Talk About Stagflation

A few months ago, the term ‘stagflation’ was mentioned too casually and frequently, in my opinion. Investors were worried about the impact of a trade war, which is natural, but were too quick to go to “The S Word.” Stagflation is a portmanteau of stagnation and inflation, coined in the 1970s when economic growth was very low (and sometimes negative) and inflation was very high. The term stagnation was often… Read More

By David Ott Tags: Economy, GDP, Inflation, Markets, Stagflation, Wall Street

2 Jun 2025

Gold is Glittering Bright (maybe too bright)

It’s not surprising that clients are inquiring about gold, as it has risen 25.3 percent so far this year. When we started this business in August 2002, I thought gold was a terrible investment idea. However, in the 273 months since then, it has handily beaten foreign stocks and bonds, and even eked out a small win over the S&P 500. That’s right, during this time frame, gold gained 10.9… Read More

By David Ott Tags: Diversification, Economy, Gold, Investing, Markets, Stocks, Volatility, Wall Street

28 Apr 2025

Public Markets Know that Private Markets are Volatile

For the past five or so years, I’ve been inundated with pitches from alternative investment managers for private investment funds. The flagship private market strategy is private equity, which includes private credit, private real estate, and infrastructure. Like public markets, these broad categories can be broken down further, but the basic point is that anything you can get in the public market is also available in the private market. A… Read More

By David Ott Tags: Alternative Investments, Economy, Private Equity, Volatility, Wall Street

21 Apr 2025

The Trouble with Timing

When the stock market sold -10.7 percent in the three days following Liberation Day, a handful of clients called and asked, ‘Hold the course, right?’ They knew what I would say, and they all held on, and I was relieved. When President Trump paused his tariff plan the following week, the S&P 500 rose 9.5 percent. That wasn’t enough to offset the loss, but it went a long way. One… Read More

By David Ott Tags: Economy, Investing, Market Timing, Markets, Stocks, Volatility, Wall Street

14 Apr 2025

Unhappy Treasuries

The S&P 500 has endured a tough performance run since Liberation Day on April 2nd, falling -5.4 percent. It was worse last week, down -12.0 percent (not including the intra-day lows), but recovered more than half of the losses. Less well known but still covered in the financial press is that bonds are having a hard time, too. Since Liberation Day, the Bloomberg Aggregate bond index has fallen by -1.9… Read More

By David Ott Tags: Bonds, Economy, Treasuries, Volatility, Wall Street

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