Trump, Comey, Mueller, Twitter, Fox News, CNN….it is all getting more than a bit chaotic. Even the stock and bond markets jumped into the fray and took notice:
- The Dow Jones Industrials had their biggest down day since September on Wednesday (down a mere 1.8% but still up 12.4% since the November 2016 Presidential election).
- The 10-year US Treasury rose on “safe-haven buying” with its yield moving down (meaning its price rose) 10 basis points from 2.34% early Tuesday to 2.23% during the day Wednesday. That’s a darn big one-day move for the 10-year US Treasury note yield.
In other news, joyful and tragic events took place during this past week:
- Joyful: The NY Yankees retired Derek Jeter’s No. 2 (joyful or tragic depending on how you look at it). Nearly 1 million tuned in for the most watched non-game in the history of the YES Network.*
- Joyful: College graduates around the country walked to Pomp & Circumstance commemorating achieving the major milestone of a college degree…continuing this weekend (Notre Dame is this Sunday!).
- Tragic/sad: A car slammed into a crowd in New York’s Times Square killing one and injuring multiple people.
- Tragic/sad: Grammy award-winning musician Chris Cornell of early-1990s band, Soundgarden, who then later played with Audioslave died at 52.*
I mention these events not to rattle off the week’s current events. But rather to cite events other than the political sphere that matter. But thanks to Twitter, Facebook and streaming news on our computers and smart phones the political sphere is placed front and center in our lives and can skew our perception of reality. I may be getting a bit philosophical but our reality is far from Washington DC in the day-to-day sense, or even the week-to-week sense. The realities of my clients and friends are:
- families and loved ones
- health (one of my clients turned 90 this month! Happy Birthday!)
- self-owned businesses
- jobs
- enjoyment like music, sports, travel
- time devoted to community and charitable pursuits
- ability to spend money freely or not
- achievement of various goals…in order to attain present or future peace of mind.
- recovering from times of sadness and tragedy
Our realities most likely did not change immediately upon the political news of the week (Trump, Comey, etc.) but rather our lives likely were affected or tweaked by more emotional and real events like a college graduation, attendance at a concert, school play, sporting event (even a Little League game)…or a death or loss.
These types of events are why I call my clients and they call me to check in. Sometimes the conversation is just a break from a stressful day or a heated recent conversation. The markets don’t even need to be discussed; we have already discussed their portfolio, asset allocation, cash levels and goals. The focus can simply be on “Hello, how is it going?” and a circling back to what really matters.
*Please email me back directly to get guest access to any WSJ article that comes up “For Subscribers Only”. You will recognize Soundgarden when you listen to the links. Great 90’s music.