Newsletters

Dear Clients and Friends, Instead of three French hens and a partridge in a pear tree, investors suffered three corrections and a bear market leading up to the holidays and New Year’s Eve. While the broader markets have taken away some of the holiday cheer with a -13.5% fourth quarter performance,...

Dear Clients and Friends, Your FBB team spent the holiday weekend giving thanks for the gifts of family and friendship. We also had plenty of conversations around the Thanksgiving dinner table about current events, including the latest market swoon that has dragged the S&P500 down to...

Dear Clients and Friends, Well that was quick. Following a fairly smooth ride in the third quarter, volatility came back abruptly in early October as fears of rising interest rates and a worsening trade war have upset the markets. Still, despite the latest decline in investor sentiment, we expect...

Dear Clients and Friends, Skeptics who decided to “sell in May and go away” missed out on the market’s best quarter since 2013, as corporate profits surged and rising trade barriers failed to slow a resurgent U.S. economy. The third quarter of 2018 felt a lot like 2017 with quarterly stock market...

Dear Clients and Friends: As the calendar rolls to July, we’re starting to notice that we’re “halfway there,” perhaps in more ways than one. With the first half of the calendar year behind us and contractionary monetary policy closing in on a three-year anniversary, we are looking back on the...

Dear Clients and Friends, After a spectacular 2017, the first quarter of 2018 has reminded us that the market can---and often does---move in unexpected ways. Just as top seeded teams in the NCAA tournament are sometimes lulled into a false sense of first-round security, so too were investors, as...

Dear Clients and Friends, As many of you have likely seen, global stock markets have become more volatile over the past week, ending a long stretch of unusually calm, rising markets. While these periods of volatility are fairly common, this particular episode came on quickly with some extreme...

Dear Clients and Friends, As many take time to reflect on a year filled with surprises, we are taking stock of trends that took shape in 2017, some of which may continue to influence investor expectations for the New Year. The bull market of 2017 took many by surprise. While we expect markets to...

Dear Clients and Friends, So far, 2017 has been a good year for investors, with economic and profit growth driving broader markets up 12.4% through September 30. With volatility at historic lows, devastation from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, rising interest rates, and geopolitical threats from North...

Dear Clients and Friends, In the second quarter, buyers bid up the prices of stocks and bonds alike. For their part, stocks gained approximately ~3.1% while equity markets continued to experience subdued volatility. Bond prices also ran higher, as the 10‐year U.S. Treasury yield returned to levels...

Dear Clients and Friends, As March Madness comes to an end, we can’t help but feel that the markets, which have been running and gunning since the election, are using the last couple weeks of the quarter to take a time out. Typically, a well-used T-O allows players to catch their breath and for...

Dear Clients and Friends, As we say farewell to a 2016 full of political and economic surprises, we wonder if 2017 will bring more of the same. As we look back on the UK’s decision to leave the European Union (the Brexit vote), the surprising U.S. election outcome, and, now, the Dow Jones...

Dear Clients and Friends, Voters and investors are waking up to a surprising outcome from last night’s election, with Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidency and Republicans maintaining the House and Senate. Investors are voting with their feet as seen in volatile U.S. stock market futures....

Dear Clients and Friends, Despite a late‐quarter selloff, U.S. stocks saw their best performance of 2016 in the third quarter (up 3.3%), with all three major indices hitting all‐time highs in mid‐August, a feat we haven’t seen since December 31, 1999. Fortunately, this is where the similarities to...

Dear Clients and Friends, As many of our clients prepare to enjoy America’s independence over a relaxing Fourth of July, we at FBB have been parsing through the June 23 “Brexit” referendum in which UK citizens voted for their independence from the European Union. While the dust is still settling,...

Dear Clients and Friends, As many of you have likely seen, global stock markets are reacting to a voter referendum that Britain will exit the European Union (EU), the so-called Brexit vote. FBB Capital Partners has been following this situation, as well as other geo-political events as we look to...

Dear Clients and Friends, Well, that was interesting. The first quarter of 2016 may go down as the most volatile in recent memory with the S&P 500 down 10% between January 1 and February 11. Meanwhile, investors worried that plunging oil prices were signaling dwindling demand for energy and,...

Dear Clients and Friends, As we write this letter on the last day of the year, the stock market looks poised to end 2015 within a percent or so of where the year began. Moving into 2016, FBB Capital continues to focus on the changing trends of currency, China, and crude oil or as we refer to them,...