Wall Street is worried. But does it really have a reason to be? The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX)—the so-called “fear gauge”—has had some rough sledding lately. After 15 months circling in a holding pattern in the 10-to-15 range, the line rocketed straight up to 37. Since then, it settled into another range between 15 and
June 2016 Year-to-Date and Monthly Recap
July 7, 2016 By
Knocked Down but Not Out Markets have been treated like a punching bag over the first half of the year, taking blow after blow from a host of issues. The utter collapse in commodity prices wreaked havoc across world markets that struggled to adjust to the rapid change. The surging U.S. dollar hurt large U.S.
November 2015 Recap
December 3, 2015 By
Contrast We celebrate and give thanks each year in November, but this November was a month riddled with somber events all over the world. Friday, November 13th was an especially dark day for those affected by the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris, and Europe as a whole continues to struggle to handle the inflow of
October 2015 Recap
November 5, 2015 By
October is always a month of change. For those of us living in the Northern hemisphere, it’s when summer finally gives way to autumn. The colors change. The days get shorter and cooler. It becomes “football weather”. And for sports fans in the U.S., the final week of October is just about as good as it gets: the NFL and college football seasons are in full swing, the World Series is underway, and the NBA and NHL regular seasons are just starting up. The end of October also means Halloween is upon us and the holiday seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner. For many, this is the beginning of the best stretch of the year. Interesting, Halloween is the second most expensive holiday, after Christmas. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans will spend about $6.9 billion on Halloween this year. That breaks down to $74.34 per person. Americans will spend $350 million alone on costumes ... for our pets! Amazing.
September 2015 Recap
October 6, 2015 By
Selenology
Both a lunar eclipse and a super-moon made for a dramatic celestial show on the evening of the final Sunday of September. A super-moon occurs when the moon’s orbit brings it closest to Earth, and a lunar eclipse leaves the moon with a rusty, reddish color.
Photography by Dan Drummond
It’s interesting that only theories explain the creation of the moon. The most commonly accepted theory is that another planetary mass that orbited our sun collided with Earth long ago, and the collision sent pieces of Earth and the other planetary mass into orbit around the Earth, eventually forming the moon. There are obvious ways the moon affects the earth, such as how its gravitational pull causes our ocean tides. There are subtle effects from that ancient collision, like how it caused the Earth to slightly tilt on its axis. Regardless of the moon’s origin, there is no arguing that there is a distinct relationship between the planet we call home and that pale white, barren body orbiting us day after day.
March 2017 Recap
What a difference a year makes. Do you recall how 2016 started? The United States’ Federal Reserve announced the first interest rate hike in years in December of 2015, and the S&P 500 would then plummet almost 11% over the following 8 weeks. At the same time, Japan and a number of European countries initiated