The Tandem Report — A quarterly client-centric newsletter that contains our current views and news.

Over the past few editions of The TANDEM Report, as well as within our other commentary pieces, we’ve spent a lot of time discussing the narrow focus of the S&P 500. This concern persisted throughout the fourth quarter as well.

The S&P 500 is supposed to be an index that tracks performance of the “500 leading companies” listed on U.S. exchanges. However, today it seemingly tracks performance of the 7 or 8 leading companies, maybe 10 if we are being generous.

In the short run, the market is driven by momentum, sentiment, news, and expectations. In the long run, the market is driven by consistent execution by companies.

The first six months of the year tell a tale of two halves when it comes to the market. For the first eight weeks of 2025, the market trudged higher – albeit at a much slower pace than the previous two years.

If you listen quite closely, you may be able to hear the sound of the Magnificent Seven deflating ever so slightly. The Magnificent Seven was anything but Magnificent last quarter.

With 2024 now in the books, it was certainly another good year for the S&P 500. The index gained more than 20% for the second consecutive year and the third time in the past four years.

The stock market continued its impressive run in the third quarter—albeit with a small hiccup in early August. The S&P 500 closed 5.5% higher, which brought the year-to-date gain through September to nearly 21%.

The first half of the year is now in the rearview mirror. And, the first six months of 2024 marked one of the strongest rallies to start the year since the lead up to the dotcom bubble in the late 90s.

Rising more than 10% since the end of 2023, the S&P 500 is off to its best start since 2019. The path of least resistance has been higher on the backs of AI, the diminishing likelihood of a recession, and the strength...

On January 2nd, 2023, the Wall Street Journal published an article that discussed the fact that more than two-thirds of economists at a collection of large financial institutions bet that the U.S. would have a recession in 2023. These firms said that...

Three quarters of the way through the year and it has certainly been an unusual one thus far. If one were to just look at headline numbers, it would probably be a pretty satisfying picture.

The first half of 2023 is officially in the books, and what a remarkable start to the year it has been. The Nasdaq experienced its best start to the year since the early 80s, surging 32% in the first 6 months of...