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As we near the halfway mark of the year, it's an ideal time to conduct a midyear financial planning review so you can assess your progress, make necessary adjustments, and ensure that you're on track to achieve your financial goals. This checklist of topics to discuss with your advisor can inspire conversations that help confirm you're headed in the right direction or adjustments that will get you back on target.

Equity markets experienced continued gains in April, contributing to strong gains to start the year. The S&P 500 gained 1.56 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a 2.57 percent return, and the Nasdaq Composite eked out a 0.07 percent increase. These positive returns were supported by better-than-expected fundamentals. 

Americans have suddenly witnessed three very large bank failures in only a few days’ time. The first was the collapse last week of Silvergate, also known as “the Crypto bank.” Soon after, we read the news of both Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank collapsing. These are some of the largest bank failures in U.S. history. What is going on here? Should we be worried? Is another financial crisis on the horizon? The short answer is no.

Markets rallied to start the year, with all three major U.S. indices seeing positive returns in January after experiencing declines in 2022. The S&P 500 rose 6.28 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.93 percent, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite led the way with a strong 10.72 percent gain. Equity markets were supported by falling long-term interest rates.

The headlines last week have warned that we’re nearing a “debt ceiling crisis.” What does this mean? It’s estimated that on January 19, 2023, the United States will have borrowed as much money as it’s legally allowed to borrow and will be prohibited from borrowing more.

August was a challenging month for markets, with a late slide bringing all three major indices into the red for the month.

Equity markets experienced widespread selloffs in June as fears of a potential recession and continued high inflation weighed heavily on investors. 

It was a rocky start to the spring for markets, with all three major U.S. indices ending the month in the red.

Brad McMillan, Commonwealth's CIO, recently shared the March economic and market update from Commonwealth Financial Network.

Equity markets had a rough start to the year, with concerns about inflation and rising case growth in the first half of January leading to sell-offs for all three major U.S. indices. The S&P 500 lost 5.17 percent in January despite a late-month rally that helped offset declines from earlier in the month.