– Notable: Work from home trends, 2023 banking crisis, mortgage application rates
– Company Highlights: PepsiCo, Alphabet, Microsoft, Waste Connections, Apple
– On Our Minds: The dollar’s status as a global reserve currency
Author: Lowell Blake
LBA Monthly View | April 2023
POSTED IN: LBA Monthly View
LBA Monthly View | March 2023
– Notable: Discount window, job openings, lending trends
– Company Highlights: American Tower, Amazon, Alphabet, S&P Global, ConocoPhillips
– On Our Minds: Choosing Purpose Over Panic
POSTED IN: LBA Monthly View
LBA Monthly View | February 2023
– Notable: Bad year for IPOs, US’s Strategic Petroleum Preserve, landline trends
– Company Highlights: Nestlé, S&P Global, PAR Technology, Vontier
– On Our Minds: AI, Chatbots, and Tech-Giant Competition
POSTED IN: LBA Monthly View
LBA Monthly View | January 2023
– Notable: Price of eggs, oil demand, builder cancellations
– Company Highlights: Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon
– On Our Minds: Not Out of the Woods Yet
POSTED IN: LBA Monthly View
LBA Monthly View | December 2022
– Notable: Holiday song streaming, cash trends, end of an era for Boeing
– Company Highlights: Johnson & Johnson, Home Depot, Visa, ConocoPhillips, Nestlé S.A.
– On Our Minds: World Cup Economics
POSTED IN: LBA Monthly View
LBA Monthly View | November 2022
– Notable: Fed rate hikes, retail theft rates, year-over-year loan originations
– Company Highlights: Canadian National Railway, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Johnson & Johnson
– On Our Minds: Pension fund impacts
POSTED IN: LBA Monthly View
Reflections & Observations: Watershed Moments
In this newsletter edition we cover the following:
– Staying Invested Part II
– Leading Economic Indicators
– IoT and Data Usage
– Revocable Trusts
– Assisted Living
– Recommended Read: The Good Life
POSTED IN: Reflections & Observations
Staying Invested Part II
In our spring newsletter, we emphasized the importance of staying invested over the long term by (1) illustrating the outsized impact of the stock market’s best days and (2) explaining how staying invested increases the likelihood of positive returns. While our analysis last spring focused on the broader implications of a long-term strategy, the strategy only works if the security you are holding is a quality company with durable, competitive advantages that drive success in both strong and weak markets.
POSTED IN: Articles
Leading Economic Indicators
Two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth has traditionally signaled that an economy is in a recession. However, in the US, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is responsible for officially designating recessions. The NBER’s analysis relies on three criteria related to economic trends: depth, diffusion, and duration.
POSTED IN: Articles
IoT and Data Usage
Over the last decade, we have seen the proliferation of “smart” devices—devices that collect our data and track our usage patterns to enhance our overall experience. There are smart mobile phones, TVs, speakers, and cars, as well as smaller everyday items like toothbrushes, vacuums, and coffee brewers. You may be wondering how all of these products became smart, seemingly overnight. What changed?
POSTED IN: Articles