While we will soon be issuing our quarterly letter, I thought an update now would be appropriate in light of the recent turmoil in the stock market. The weakness in stocks last week in response to President Trump’s tariff plans was reminiscent of the volatility we saw in March of 2020 when the government shut down the economy due to the Covid outbreak. Indeed, stocks ended the week with its two worst days since the onset of the pandemic. During times like these, the best course of action for investors to take is usually no action. Emotion-driven investment decisions tend to have poor outcomes. Case in point, March of 2020 would have been a terrible month to sell stocks. I believe the same will prove to be true for now.

Investors with balanced portfolios, meaning a combination of stocks and bonds, can take comfort as bonds have held up well during this time, cushioning the blow to portfolios. Those who have avoided following the crowd and have exercised sound investment practices should realize that the dramatic news reports likely do not describe how their portfolios are doing.

I will expand more on the recent volatility in our quarterly market update letter scheduled for release next week.

Glenn S. Rank, CIMA®

Certified Investment Management Analyst®

President