Blog

As we began this week’s newsletter we were awaiting the dissemination of the results from the Federal Reserve June meeting. As usual, economic data is mixed in many regards and depending on what you want to conclude about asset values. 

JoBeth and I took our first post-Covid-19 airplane flight this past week. We visited my children in Taos, NM, and stopped in Santa Fe, NM for a couple of nights. There was a distinct contrast in mask and social distancing between San Francisco and New Mexico. NM has a high vaccination rate but compliance with public health measures was notably less stringent than SF.

Decision-making, especially when faced with too many decisions, can present a challenge in any environment. During the Pandemic, most aspects of life have been turned upside down including general decision making. Upside down means what was formerly up is down and vice versa. It was easier to decide to practice social distance, mask-wearing, and washing hands.

Tax day happened Monday, May 17th officially marking the close to the calendar year 2020. What a year!

Stock market behavior and the divergent performance between the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ market index. It has not been uncommon for the correlation between the two to be -1 or to move in the opposite direction. 

Bipartisanship has been a stated and restated goal for President Biden.

Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC. Have you seen this acronym “CBDC;” what is it?

Wednesday, April 14th this week was the direct listing of an SF company in the business of storing/trading/managing cryptocurrencies mainly Bitcoin. Coinbase (COIN) went public this week. We have been trying to understand what cryptocurrencies are and if and how they fit into portfolios. Although we have read a great deal, I have to admit that it is a hard reality for me to grasp.

The butterfly emerging from the caterpillar cocoon. The butterfly spreads its wings and flies off-no transition. After over 1 year of quarantine, lockdown, and social distancing we are not as easily finding the transition to what comes next.