2Q 2017 Focus

There has been no shortage of financial news as the first quarter of 2017 comes to a close.  Of course, the highlight is the 5% gain in the S&P 500 for the first three months of the year; those gains were driven by technology stocks and healthcare, which were the laggards of 2016.

Just as noteworthy has been the spike in interest rates that has occurred since the election.  The discussion of tax cuts and increases in infrastructure and defense spending have led to whiffs of inflation for the first time in more than eight years, even with no legislation on the table.

Our investment focus will continue to include TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities) for most of our clients as a way to protect portfolios against both stock volatility and inflation.  As discussed in an earlier blog post, we are also increasing allocations to active versus index investments.  During the first quarter of 2017, more than 40% of active managers outperformed their benchmark indices.