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Key Takeaways • Not even a banking panic could keep the S&P 500 from posting gains for March and Q1. • Renewed hopes for a Fed pivot sent investors flocking to the perceived safety of megacap tech stocks, with the NASDAQ triumphantly entering an official bull market. • However, just as Napoleon’s return from exile was short-lived, we believe the euphoria of a new bull market will be fleeting, though opportunities will be found in less conventional parts of the market.

Read Will's Commentary - Barrons: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is planning to announce its decision on the sale of Silicon Valley Bank this weekend, Barron’s Advisor has learned. A person familiar with the FDIC’s plans indicates that the banking regulator hopes to present a resolution of the auction over the weekend.

I recently accompanied my son’s class on a field trip to something called the Exploreum. As you may have heard, good things don’t end with “eum”. Although certain facets of the trip were quasi-educational, I did take umbrage at their comparison of “playing the stock market” to casinos and the lottery:

Formidable was founded in 2013 as a wealth management firm. Our CEO and founder, Will Brown, wanted to bring a differentiated, active approach to the RIA space. When developing client portfolios, we were unsatisfied with solutions we saw in the market, especially in the alternatives space.

If you think our title sounds like an episode of the TV show Lost, you would be correct. Per Wikipedia, an always reliable source, “’”The Constant” is widely regarded as one of Lost's best episodes, and arguably the best episode of television produced in the 21st century.” I encourage one of our readers to edit this incredibly hyperbolic entry.

We are going to break this month’s update into two separate pieces. First, we will recap a dismal 2022. Then, we will provide our outlook for 2023, and in some ways, beyond. If you want a little more color, we encourage you to listen to our most recent podcast.

In a pleasant surprise, the U.S. made it to the knockout stages of the World Cup. However, as widely predicted, they failed it make it any further. While winning the World Cup would have been truly extraordinary, in the history of American sports, nothing is likely to top the legendary 1980 hockey victory that inspired the titular quote. Such a victory was truly miraculous, at least according to the Oxford Languages dictionary, which defines a miracle as, “a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences.” As an aside, we were shocked to learn there is not a Hallmark Christmas movie with this title, wherein “Miracles” is either a town or a dog.

Yes, this is the Hank Williams, Junior catchphrase from the erstwhile intro to Monday Night football (American Style) but we are going to be looking at markets through the lens of association football, specifically the World Cup, which kicks off in a few weeks. Yes, this event is typically played in the summer, but since it is being played in Qatar this year for reasons that certainly have nothing to do with unethical behavior on the part of soccer’s governing body, FIFA, let’s get ready for some football, I mean soccer.

It's the beginning of trading in the month of October and the markets have seen a steady decline. This is one of the more difficult market environments we've seen. Jonathan Ruffer, one of the greatest investors of whom you have never heard, recently wrote, “(i)n the forty-five years I have been an investor, I cannot recall a more dangerous period than today.”

We had some positive feedback on our myth-oriented update, which inspired one reader to ask we theme an update on Ulysses, the James Joyce classic, not the star of Homer’s Odyssey. So, I went to the library and checked out a 30-year-old edition that appeared to have never been opened.