The Caldwell Trust Company Blog

As 2017 draws to a close, it’s time to look to 2018 tax planning. This can be important for knowing how much you want to spend, how much you need to spend, and much more. The GOP recently released the details of its tax reform plan, which is dubbed the Tax Cut and Jobs Act. While it has yet to be passed, it would be wise to start educating yourself on the changes that might take place as well as begin planning with this proposed legislation in the works.

• Equity and bond marketing move higher
• With five weeks remaining, 2017 equity returns very strong
• Fundamentals continue to be mostly positive
• Potential yield curve inversion cause for concern

In a holiday shortened trading week both domestic equity and fixed income markets powered higher once again. The S&P 500, NASDAQ, and Dow were all up meaningfully for the week. Bonds moved marginally higher as yields declined slightly for the week. As we approach the end of November it appears the NASDAQ is headed towards a 30% annual return; the S&P 500 and the Dow are nearing 20% annualized returns. The broad domestic bond market is on track to return between 3%-4% this year. High Yield bonds domestically have returned around 7% year to date even with the recent sell off.

• Equity markets mixed
• 10-year Treasury yeild down slightly
• Wal-Mart psots strong earnings
• Tax reform legislation winds through Congress

The broad domestic equity markets were mixed on the week with the Dow and S&P 500 posting losses and the NASDAQ gaining about .5%. The last couple of weeks the markets have been consolidating. Energy shares struggled last week, and along with Telecommunication shares are the only two S&P sectors posting negative returns year to date. On the positive side of things, Wal-Mart reported very strong earnings last week and the shares jumped 8.5%. Results were driven in part by Wal-Mart’s strengthening position in e-commerce. Of all the traditional brick & mortar retailers Wal-Mart is best equipped to compete head on with Amazon.

• Domestic Markets Trade Down for the Week
• Telecommunications and Bank Stocks Decline
• Earnings Season Nearing Conclusion
• General Electric Announces Restructuring Plans Monday

Both domestic equity and fixed income markets sold off last week though relatively slightly. All three major equity indices were down less than a percent for the week; the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose just over 6 basis points. Several events contributed to the declines including the Senate version of tax reform which pushed the proposed decrease in the corporate tax rate into 2019 (the House version calls for implementation in 2018). The Senate version may have also contributed to the decline in bank stocks last week - in conjunction with concern over the flattening of the yield curve. The Financial sector declined over 1 % last week second only to the decline in Telecommunication (Telecom) stocks (down 1.39% on the week).

• Jerome Powell nominated as next Federal Reserve Chairman
• Tax reform legislation introduced
• Strong Jobs Report
• General Electric shares placed on hold

Thursday’s Wall Street Journal put it most succinctly regarding Jerome Powell being nominated by President Trump as the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve – “a move likely to combine continuity on interest rate policy with perhaps a lighter touch on financial regulation.” Expect the relatively accommodative stance of the Federal Reserve with respect to interest rates to continue. The consensus continues to project an increase in the Fed Funds rate in December with three more currently slated for next year.

Caldwell Trust Company serves as a true fiduciary meaning we hold ourselves to a higher professional standard. Over the past 12 to 24 months the term fiduciary has been mentioned in several articles due to the Department of Labor’s ruling on the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974.  What you may not be aware of is how a fiduciary differs from a Broker or Financial Advisor as it relates to the management of your retirement funds or other matters.