August 18, 2025 – The noise of front-page news doesn’t seem to coincide with record stock prices. War, ICE raids, violent storms and tariffs may be the topics of the Sunday talk shows, but the stock market cares more about earnings and interest rates. Earnings are rising and interest rates are stable. Will that continue? Earnings growth should slow a bit as the full impact of tariffs hits. While the Fed Funds rates should start to decline this fall, markets will focus on changes in the 10-year Treasury yield more than the Fed Funds rate.

Reading the headlines, it is hard to square the circle between all the bad news we read about on the front pages and record stock prices. Tariffs, wars, rising commodity prices, ICE raids, and difficulties many have finding jobs doesn’t seem to jive with record reported profits. But investors aren’t crazy. So, let’s dig a …

August 18, 2025 – The noise of front-page news doesn’t seem to coincide with record stock prices. War, ICE raids, violent storms and tariffs may be the topics of the Sunday talk shows, but the stock market cares more about earnings and interest rates. Earnings are rising and interest rates are stable. Will that continue? Earnings growth should slow a bit as the full impact of tariffs hits. While the Fed Funds rates should start to decline this fall, markets will focus on changes in the 10-year Treasury yield more than the Fed Funds rate.Read More