On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, World War I formally ended. A year later, Woodrow Wilson, who was president during all of WWI, which coincided with the Spanish Flu pandemic, issued this uplifting message on the first Armistice Day (later changed to Veterans Day).

Stock market volatility declined this week as prices broadly increased and are now on pace for the highest weekly price gain since April. This tells us that stock markets may broadly favor a divided government. There is less uncertainty as neither party can run too far in either direction.

“yeah...but” is the theme of the week.

Third-quarter economic growth (advance estimate of gross domestic product, GDP) released Thursday showed GDP increased at an annual rate of 33.1% during the third quarter. This was the best growth rate on record; however, this followed the second quarter which was among the worst on record.

At some point, government debt will need to be paid back. Methods for doing so are somewhat limited. Possible solutions; inflate (grow) our way out, spending reform, and tax reform. It is likely that a combination of methods may be deployed given debt levels.

On Tuesday, October 2020, Jason Ranallo and Dan Powers presented our Quarterly Update webinar for Q3. We covered topics like Social Security, the VIX volatility index, job growth, and the elections, to name a few. Here is the 5 minute digest from the full-length video.

Get an inside look at recent trends and research driving our Investment Committee at Vector Wealth Management. During the 45-minute presentation, we examine recent market movements and major themes impacting the markets.
Topics: Social Security, Market concentration, economic growth, and elections.
Presented by: Jason Ranallo, director of the portfolio management group and Dan Powers, portfolio management.

Swift and sizeable monetary and fiscal policy actions propped up the economy and ignited an advancement in the stock market of historic proportions. Many may wonder how it is that the stock market can climb so far so quickly.