Posts by Bryan Taylor
Intervention: A crisis averted?
There’s almost no chance of a recession this year. – Barron’s Roundtable (January 2020) “Speculators are obsessed with predicting-guessing-the direction of stock prices. Every morning on cable television, every afternoon on the stock market report, every weekend in Barron’s, every week in dozens of market newsletters, and whenever business people get together.” – Seth Klarman…
Read MoreThe State of Fear
I would define True Courage to be a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it. – General William T. Sherman What a difference a couple of weeks makes! It seems like ages ago that we were concerned about the growing impact of the COVID-19 Virus on Italy and…
Read MoreCornerstone Covid-19 Response and Business Continuity Plan
As a Registered Investment Advisor, Cornerstone Management is required by the Securities and Exchange Commission to maintain a business continuity plan to be implemented in the event of a range of potential significant business disruptions (SBDs). We have updated our plan to further incorporate the unique impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and the current response…
Read MoreCOVID-19: The Unknown, Unknown
There are known knowns, things we know that we know; and there are known unknowns, things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns, things we do not know we don’t know. – Donald Rumsfeld U.S. Secretary of Defense 2001-2006 A couple of months ago we kicked off a new year,…
Read More3Q 2019 Cornerstone Commentary
Capitalism works because it encourages and rewards those who successfully take risks, adapt to change, and develop profitable opportunities. – Henry Blodget The story of the third quarter may be told in terms of tweets and monetary policy. Donald Trump continued his tweeting barrage, but his tweets related to the trade war with China and…
Read More2Q 2019 Cornerstone Commentary
It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark. – Warren Buffet The second quarter of 2019 proved to be quite interesting for investors. The first quarter rally continued into April only to be followed by a scary drop in May precipitated by aggressive trade rhetoric and recessionary fears. U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell came quickly…
Read More1Q 2019 Cornerstone Commentary
Whoso would be a man, must be a non-conformist…Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. – Ralph Waldo Emerson After the disastrous decline of the fourth quarter compounded by a dismal December, the first quarter provided welcome relief to beleaguered equity holders. In the face of ongoing concerns including a…
Read More4Q 2018 Cornerstone Commentary
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not the absence of fear. – Mark Twain What a difference a quarter makes; from the highs of September the market plumbed new lows in December! As of our last missive, we had expected early 4th quarter negativity to give way to a year-end rally. Instead, the…
Read More3Q 2018 Cornerstone Commentary
People’s spending habits depend more on how wealthy they feel than with the actual amount of their current income. – A.C. Pigou (English economist, The Theory of Unemployment) Equities rebounded in the third quarter, but despite the improvement in U.S. equities, a strengthening dollar and continued tightening by the Federal Reserve proved challenging for other…
Read More2Q 2018 Cornerstone Commentary
Volatility continued to be a significant factor in the second quarter of 2018. Surprisingly, REIT’s rallied strongly and along with small cap domestic stocks led the way as we reached the half-way mark of 2018. The rally in REIT’s is of particular note because of the continued upward trend in interest rates and may reflect…
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