Forbes & Sierra CIO St. Aubin on the Implications of Recent U.S. Bond Rating Downgrade

Access to this article may require a subscription. Fitch Ratings took away America’s triple-A credit rating this week, but it could not downgrade the almighty dollar. The No. 3 U.S. credit rater joined larger rival Standard & Poor’s — after more than a decade — in cutting Treasury bonds from AAA to AA+ on Wednesday, […]
Corporate Earnings Growth Predictions Could Cause Stock Prices to Continue Climbing

Access to this article may require a subscription. It’s become a common refrain among those who believe the 2023 stock-market rally seems too good to last: by almost any measure one chooses, equity valuations in the U.S. are looking stretched. While this point is generally conceded by equity analysts, it glosses over another debate of […]
St. Aubin on the Future of U.S. Stocks’ Current Hot Streak

Access to this article may require a subscription. The S&P 500 index is on the verge of a fifth straight monthly gain in July. It’s a reality that few on Wall Street expected just eight months ago. As a result, it seems that one by one, equity analysts at the big banks are issuing mea […]
US Stocks Advance in Wake of Upbeat Inflation Data; Sierra CIO Remains Cautious Due to Strong Job Market

Access to this article may require a subscription. U.S. stock indexes ended higher and recorded their fourth straight day of gains on Thursday, with the S&P 500 clearing the 4,500 mark for the first time since April 2022, led by technology stocks, after data showed June producer-price inflation fell further, bolstering the chances that the […]
Nasdaq’s First Half of 2023 Boosting Economic Optimism

Access to this article may require a subscription. Modest daily stock gains cinched a strong six months on Wall Street, fueled by investors’ optimism that inflation is easing while the economy continues to hum. Fresh spending data added momentum on Friday, showing milder core-price increases in May compared with a month earlier, while consumer outlays […]
Sierra Investment Management CIO, James St. Aubin Remains on Guard
The S&P 500 edged up 0.1% on Wednesday after shuffling between gains and losses. Bond yields, which move inversely to prices, inched higher. The S&P 500 is up 15% this year, while the Nasdaq (.IXIC) has gained 30%. James St. Aubin, chief investment officer at Sierra Investment Management, has been adding to equity positions during […]
St. Aubin on Money Life Podcast: “The Market Could Go in Any Direction”

James St. Aubin, chief investment officer at Sierra Investment Management, says that we are looking at ‘unusually uncertain times given what the market is trying to process right now,’ specifically how the increased cost of credit and the decreased availability of credit will work its way through the economy. St. Aubin – who uses a […]
Forbes: James St. Aubin on the Benefits of Bond Laddering

Carving out a chunk of your nest egg to buy debt securities that you hold until maturity offers predictable income and principal protection in an unpredictable world. When Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) blew up last month, it provided aging investors with a textbook example of what can go wrong with even the most conservative of […]
St. Aubin on Morningstar Markets Brief: “Tectonic shifts in forecasting Fed policy”

Tech stocks benefited as investors flooded into the beaten-up group, expecting it to benefit from a Fed pause and move to cut interest rates. Also, mega-cap techs are seen as having fortress-like balance sheets able to withstand a serious downturn. But the first quarter was anything but an easy ride. “It was a quarter that […]
March Market Madness

In light of the turmoil in the banking sector, some have called the March Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting announcement the most anticipated in recent memory. In this brief commentary, Sierra’s Chief Investment Officer, James St. Aubin provides his insight to help unpack what was done and communicated in that meeting. 0146-SI00XLAP 03272023