What We're Watching in June

Summer is here, and while many take time to unwind and travel, the markets remain in constant motion. For those who closely follow financial news, the headlines often point in conflicting directions. At Carnegie, we cut through the noise by staying grounded in long-term fundamentals, thoughtful portfolio positioning, and informed decision-making. 

Economic Tailwinds from AI’s CapEx  

This year, the markets have been driven by the administration’s tariff policies.  When higher than expected tariffs have been threatened or imposed, common stocks and fixed-income securities have lost value. On the other hand, lower tariff rates or delays in the assessment of these taxes have caused the markets to rebound. While these policy changes are extremely important, the secular growth in capital expenditures necessary to build out infrastructure for Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not getting the coverage that it deserves.

Volatility vs Long-Term Trends

Volatility in the market has spiked during the last month, coinciding with the Trump Administration’s tariff rollout. The rollout has been accompanied by shifting levels in the tariff, uncertainty when and where they will be implemented, and an escalating trade war with China. Equities have reacted negatively leading to headlines indicating how far the indexes have fallen off the peak.

The resulting chart can be a little unsettling.

When it comes to years when both stocks and bonds see poor performance, investors may begin to wonder if it’s better to have their money in liquid assets such as cash, as opposed to investments such as bonds and stocks. In other words, is cash king? Let’s see.

When you own shares of a company, whether it’s a single share or thousands of shares, two things you must deal with are proxy voting and corporate class action lawsuits. Both are often quite tedious, but the good news is that when you work with a Carnegie advisor, we can handle them for you. Here’s everything you need to know about proxy voting, corporate class action lawsuits and how Carnegie handles them.

Trends come and go, but some don’t leave before impacting your investments first. The problem is parsing through all the trends and figuring out which will or will not impact your portfolio. Of course, long-term investing is founded on principles that go beyond merely chasing the latest trend. But that doesn’t mean ignoring trends completely. At Carnegie, we believe in striking a balance by remaining aware of trends, but not being shackled to them. With that in mind, here are five megatrends and the impact we expect them to have on the market.

All your hard work over the years has finally paid off and you’re selling your business. This is an exciting time, but it’s also full of decisions that will impact you for the rest of your life. No matter how large your payout, making it last requires planning. Here’s what you need to know to make your funds last a lifetime. 

As the saying goes, if it is too good to be true, it usually is. In this case it is true, thanks to a recent inflation indicator.

A little-known type of U.S Government bonds called I-bonds are currently yielding more than 7%. The I-bond is a type of U.S. savings bond that is indexed to the Consumer Price Index’s trailing 6 month change. When the Treasury reset the rate at the beginning of November it was 7.12% annualized. This rate will be effective until May 2022.

Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, have exploded in popularity this year, but most investors are still not familiar with these entities, sometimes called blank-check companies. 

In their most recent study about stress in America, the American Psychological Association found that 72 percent of people felt stressed about money. Finances can be a constant stressor for some, no matter what significant events influence it. Still, it’s no secret that the pandemic transformed the workforce rapidly and wreaked long-term havoc on the economy in 2020. Many people experienced food insecurity due to the unexpected impact of financial loss, and according to a survey published in November, 2020, about 63 percent of Americans had been living paycheck to paycheck since the start of the pandemic.