Take a look at the June market recap from Joe Gallemore, CIMA® Partner & Director of Investment Management for Argent Bridge Advisors. Watch the video now!

Joe’s Notes:

May Market Results

• Indexes started May off shaky but improved through the middle of the month as economic data supported investors’ hope that the Fed has reached a pause in it’s hiking of interest rates.
• But the final week of May saw markets trend down on concern over the swiftly approaching debt ceiling deadline.
• The S&P 500 ended May +9.65% YTD, US Small Cap stocks are flat, International stocks are +7.2%, and bonds remain positive at +2.5%.

Our recent portfolio shifts 

• Argent Bridge’s Investment Committee met and acknowledged the risks and most probable range of outcomes for the market for the remainder of 2023 and beyond.
  • Consensus opinion of economic slowdown (ie, high probability of recession)
  • Debt ceiling uncertainty. Potential downside for equity markets if a deal is not worked out. We walked through some of these in last month’s COJ

• Decided to hedge some of the risk in our model portfolios
  • Took some of the allocation in stocks and implemented a fund tracking the S&P 500 that is designed to have significantly reduced down-side if the market declines over the next 12 months. Utilizing this fund does compromise some upside if the S&P 500 were to perform very well over the next year. We felt it more important to guard against the possibility of another bear marketDid not change the allocation to bonds. We expect the dynamics here to work well for investors going forward.
  • Additionally, for those taking regular distributions or having to take RMDs, we raised enough cash to bridge the time span we believe is most vulnerable to market downturn
  • We wanted to outline these changes for you as this economic cycle progresses and as we remain focused on the long-term while being mindful of the short-term.
    
    Joe Gallemore, CIMA®, Partner