Week of February 24, 2025

Key Points for the Week

• With stocks back at new highs there are many reasons to expect this bull market may continue, if we have solid earnings growth and strong productivity gains.
• Five years ago, the pandemic started wrecking investors’ portfolios, yet looking back it provided a wonderful buying opportunity for longer-term investors.
• Household leverage is falling, credit events are running low, and households are using a relatively low level of borrowing capacity.

Current Trends & News is a weekly financial recap curated by SPC Financial®’s team of wealth management and tax-integrated advisors.* We monitor and explore the intricacies of the financial world and share insights into market developments.

Economic Update

Broadly speaking, there are two types of investors: individual investors and institutional investors.

Individual investors buy and sell investments to grow their personal wealth. This group of investors often works with financial advisors as they pursue their financial goals. Individual investors tend to invest smaller amounts of money than institutional investors do.

For the last three weeks, sentiment among individual investors has been leaning bearish. Last week, 40.5 percent of investors in the AAII Investor Sentiment Survey were feeling pessimistic about the direction of stocks over the next six months. That was an improvement from the prior week’s reading when 47.3 percent of participants were bearish. Here is what the survey has found since the week of January 20.

AAII Investor Sentiment Survey results:

	Bullish	Neutral	Bearish
February 19	29.2%	30.3%	40.5%
February 12	28.4	24.3	47.3
February 5	33.3	23.8	42.9
January 29	41.0	25.0	34.0
January 22	43.4	27.1	29.4

The AAII Investor Sentiment Survey is considered a contrarian indicator, meaning that people look at the survey to identify potential turning points in the market. In some instances, when investors have been pessimistic, the market has moved higher, and vice versa, reported Edward Harrison of Bloomberg.

Institutional investors are very large investors, such as banks, mutual funds, exchange traded funds, college endowments, state pensions, insurance companies, and other organizations that buy and sell investments, usually in very large volumes, to meet the goals of the group for whom they are investing.

Currently, institutional investors are quite bullish. According to survey results released last week by Bank of America (BofA), many institutional investors are fully invested and holding very little cash.

“Global stocks have become the most popular asset class with [institutional] investors, who are showing the biggest willingness to take risk in 15 years. About 89 [percent] of respondents in the BofA survey said US equities were overvalued, the most since at least April 2001. The faith in so-called U.S. exceptionalism — where investors bet mainly on American financial markets — has also faltered as investors rotate into European stocks.”

Sagarika Jaisinghani, Bloomberg

Last week, major U.S. stock indices moved lower on discouraging economic data and inflation concerns, reported Connor Smith of Barron’s. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury moved lower over the week.

This Week in the Markets

Worries about tariffs, what President Trump might do next, the Fed, geopolitical drama, inflation, AI, and more have dominated the headlines and caused a good deal of worry for many investors in 2025. Yet, in the face of all of that, the S&P 500 moved back to new all-time highs last week, which has many investors scratching their heads about how this is possible.

The shortest answer is we are in a bull market and stocks tend to go higher in bull markets. We have been saying we were in a bull market for more than two years and it is important to remember that surprises happen to the upside in bull markets. Here are some reasons stocks are back at new highs, many of which we have covered in detail over the last few months:

• Record earnings, solid revenue, and new cycle highs in profit margins
• Markets climb a wall of worry and there is a lot of worry out there
• This bull market is quite young, so many more years of gains are possible
• The labor market remains strong, with healthy overall wage growth
• Inflation should improve later this year, potentially opening the door for the Federal Reserve (Fed) to cut more than is currently being priced in
• Productivity in the US has been strong the past six quarters, and historically, periods of strong productivity have led to above-trend economic growth and stock gains
• The bull market is broadening out, meaning many more sectors and groups are leading. It is not just about seven big tech stocks anymore

There are likely many more reasons, but one we want to make sure we highlight again is that this bull market is still young. As we show here, it is now only 28 months old and bull markets tend to last many more years once they get to this point. In fact, going back 50 years the five bull markets that made it into their third year (like this one) lasted an average of eight years total and the shortest was five years.

Many investors fear heights, meaning they do not want to touch stocks at new highs. Well, we do like buying low too. We were suggesting overweighting equities in these very commentaries two years ago and fortunately the investors who followed that advice are quite happy to have stocks making new highs. But what do you do now?

It is important to understand that new highs are very common and tend to happen more than you would think. Starting in 1957 (when the S&P 500 moved to 500 stocks) a new high has been hit about every three weeks, with more than 1,200 new highs along the way. Looking at what happens after all those new highs, stocks were higher a year later 71.0% of the time and up a median of 8.3%, so about what you tend to see in any random year. Yes, someday there will be a new high that is the last one and rough times could be right around the corner. The good news is we do not see that happening anytime soon and 2025 still looks like it should be a nice year for investors.

It is also important to remember that during a Bull Market, stock pullbacks frequently occur. On average, the stock market drops 14% at some point, every year. The longest recorded Bull Market lasted 11 years. It started after the 2008 financial crisis. Despite rising almost 400% during this time, the stock market experienced 6 declines that exceeded 10%. These declines were triggered by different headline events:

• 2010 The European Debt Crisis
• 2011 U.S. Debt Ceiling crisis
• 2015 weakness in the Chinese economy
• 2016 fears of a global economic slowdown
• 2018 concerns over a trade war, and surge in inflation
• 2018 second correction driven by the aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve

Long-term investors recognize that stock markets do not rise in a straight-line trajectory. This Bull Market ended with the arrival of COVID.

Remembering Five Years Ago

The headlines might be scary today, but they were nothing like what we started experiencing this time five years ago. The S&P 500 peaked on February 19, 2020 and five weeks later was down 34% for the fastest and most vicious bear market ever. Then, nearly just as quickly stocks turned around and rallied, but unfortunately many investors panicked and sold in the depths of the pandemic and took a long time getting back into markets.

They say the stock market is the only place where things go on sale and everyone runs out of the store screaming. Well, we saw a lot of selling and screaming back then and unfortunately a lot of investors sold right before a huge rally and missed a generational buying opportunity.

We had a 100-year pandemic that shut down the global economy and then a second vicious 25% bear market in 2022. We have never seen back-to-back bear markets that close to each other, making the start of this decade extremely rough for investors.

Yet, the S&P 500 is up more than 80% since right before the market peaked in February 2020, for an annualized gain of more than 12%! If you simply held in the face of two scary bear markets, you would be up more than 80%. That is easier said than done, but many investors did just this.

Now imagine if you not only held, but used that weakness to buy solid companies at very attractive prices? This is why we invest for the long run and use the scary times as an opportunity, not a time to panic.

President Eisenhower once said, “Plans are useless, but planning is everything.” Have a plan for the next time things are bad out there. Are you going to panic? Or will you use it as a time to follow your plan? Think about that the next time you see some red on the screen and all the commentators on TV all worked up over the latest worry. Worries happen every year — 2025 was not going to be any different.

Consumer Debt

Every quarter the New York Federal Reserve releases its household credit and debt report and we get a flurry of headlines about rising credit card debt and delinquencies. As always with these things, it is important to maintain some perspective. Here are five things to consider when putting the household debt picture in to context.

One: Household Leverage Is Actually Falling

Credit card debt rose 3.9% last quarter (Q4 2024) to $1.2 trillion, but credit card debt is under 7% of overall household debt. Total debt rose just 0.5% in Q4 to $18.0 Trillion, the slowest quarterly increase since Q2 2023. That is because most household debt is mortgage debt ($12.6 trillion), and that is barely increasing—for obvious reasons, since mortgage rates are running close to 7%.

Do you know what is increasing? Disposable income, which increased 1.3% in Q4. Across 2024:

• Overall household debt grew by 3%
• Disposable income grew by 5%

In some ways, that is what driving the economy, even as households become less levered. For perspective, here are the numbers for 2019:

• Overall household debt grew by 4.4%
• Disposable income grew by 2.7%

It is remarkable that disposable incomes have grown faster than overall debt for the second year in a row (2023 and 2024). That becomes important because disposable income is used for servicing debt. Debt service payments are just 11.3% of disposable income right now, below the 1980–2019 average of 12% and even below the 2019 average of 11.7%. Also remember that 2019 was the end of a decade of deleveraging. Household balance sheets got hit by the Financial Crisis, as stock prices and home prices fell, and households spent the following decade rebuilding them. So, debt service running below 2019 levels is a huge positive.

Two: Consumers’ Borrowing Capacity Is Not Stretched

Credit card debt rose by $45 billion in Q4 (to $1.2 trillion). However, credit card limits rose by $98 trillion, which means available credit rose by $53 billion, more than the increase in credit card debt. As a result, credit card utilization was unchanged at 24%, matching the 2010–2019 average.

Home equity credit utilization was also unchanged at 40%, which leaves it well below the historical average of 51%, and it may increase as home prices rise. Of course, we need interest rates to pull back for consumers to start accessing this dry powder, but it is there.

Three: Credit Card Delinquencies Rose, but This Is Likely Normalization

There has been a lot of worries about rising stress within credit card and auto loans. Looking at the percent of balances that were 90+ days delinquent:

• Credit cards: Rose from 11.1% to 11.4% (it was 8.4% in 2019)
• Auto loans: Rose from 4.6% to 4.8% (it was 4.9% in 2019)

The data for “transition” into serious delinquencies (90+ days) is where a lot of concern has focused:

• Credit cards: Rose from 7.1% to 7.2% (it was 5.3% in Q4 2019)
• Auto loans: Rose from 2.9% to 3.0% (it was 2.4% in Q4 2019)

Now, the transition rate is the newly added seriously delinquent balance as a percent of the previous quarter’s balance that was not seriously delinquent. With debt balances running on the lower side, it does not take a lot of new delinquencies to send the transition rate higher. Ultimately, incomes are what’s funding consumption, and so fewer people are using debt (especially credit cards). As a result, the mix of borrowers is slightly worse.

Again, it is better to normalize delinquencies and transitions into delinquencies by disposable income, to help comparisons across time on an apples-to-apples basis. Credit card debt is currently around 5.5% of disposable income, slightly lower than the 5.7% in 2019 and below the historical average of 6.4%. Meanwhile, card balances that are seriously delinquent (90+ days) is 0.62% of disposable income. That is up from 0.52% a year ago, and currently higher than pre-pandemic levels. However, it is lower than the minimum we saw during the 2003-2007 expansion cycle. As pointed out above, households were in a big deleveraging cycle during the 2010-2019 period, as they looked to shore up balance sheets. Balance sheets are much more solid now, and so what we are seeing is likely just normalization. If these continue to surge, that would be worrisome, but they are already signs that the rate of growth of delinquencies (relative to incomes) is starting to slow down.

Four: Overall Picture of Delinquent Balances Do Not Look Bad

Let us look at the overall picture of delinquent balances. The percent of total balances that were current on payments fell slightly from 96.5% (Q3) to 96.4% (Q4). That is above the Q4 2019 level of 95.3%. What is especially striking is if you look at “seriously delinquent” balances (anything above 90 days) that is just 2% of total balances, versus 3.1% in 2019.

Again, once you normalize by income, the picture looks even better relative to history. Seriously delinquent balances are just 1.7% of disposable income. It was 2.7% in 2019 and averaged 2.2% from 2003¬–2006. This is probably the chart that best illustrates the post-Financial Crisis deleveraging cycle of 2010-2019.

Five: Collections, Bankruptcies, and Foreclosures Are Running Low

If households were really getting stretched, and there was a lot of broad pockets of payment distress, we would see third party collections soar. Right now, it is the opposite. Only 4.6% of households had collections against them in Q4, and that is lower than the 4.7% of a year ago. It averaged 9.2% across 2019.

The number of consumer foreclosures fell 1% in Q4, following a big 12% drop in Q4. Foreclosures totaled 41,520 in Q4, 42% below the 2019 level of 71,420. Moreover, consumer bankruptcies fell by 3%, following a 7% decline in Q3. Bankruptcies totaled 122,660 in Q4, 39% below the 2019 level of 201,820.

Six: Household Balance Sheets Look Good Across Income Levels

At an aggregate level, the household balance share picture looks better than ever. Assets are currently worth 851% of disposable income, up from 791% in 2019. Despite the increase in disposable income, asset values have risen on the back of surging stock prices and home values. At the same time, liabilities are running at 96% of disposable income, down from 98% a year ago and below the 101% level in 2019. As a result, net worth is at 755% percent of disposable income, higher than at any point between 1955 and 2020.

One knock against the chart above is that it is an aggregate picture (by the way, so are the credit card debt data everyone cites). Perhaps the story is different if you look at different segments of households? The short answer is no. The picture looks good even if we look at households across the income spectrum. Here is liabilities as a percent of assets for different income quintiles:

• 0-20th percentile: 14.7% (vs 16.2% in 2019)
• 20th – 40th: 17.6% (21.9% in 2019)
• 40th – 60th: 18.5% (20.7% in 2019)
• 60th – 80th: 17.8% (18.6% in 2019)
• 80th – 99th: 9.7% (11.3% in 2019)
• Top 1%: 3.7% (4.2% in 2019)

In short, every income group is less levered relative to where they were at the end of 2019, and as pointed out above, 2019 was at the end of a decade of deleveraging. Things look good even relative to that high bar.

All this tells you how strong household balance sheets currently are, and the lack of distress relative to history (even relative to a the end of a solid deleveraging cycle like 2019). This is not to say that there are no risks out there. There certainly are, but it is not because households are over-levered.

Let’s Talk About the Weather

Last week, many parts of the United States set new records for low temperatures as an arctic blast swept across the country. Antelope Creek, North Dakota, saw 45 degrees below zero, which made the low in Austin, Texas (29 degrees) seem downright balmy. In many areas, schools closed – not because of snow, but because of the bitter cold. Meanwhile, up in Alaska, the Iditarod dog sled race moved north from Anchorage to Fairbanks due to a lack of snow and too-warm temperatures.

By the end of last week, temperatures were warming up. In some places, temperature swings of 90 degrees or more were anticipated. That is sure to inspire thoughts of spring blooming!

A Reminder About Scams

Scams usually start with a phone call, email, text, or another form of communication. The person typically claims to be from an agency or organization you know – or one that sounds like it might benefit you, such as the National Sweepstakes Bureau or a lottery.

The person may know your name and address. They may give you their official title or an identification number. No matter how official they seem, you can be confident it is a scam if the person contacting you:

• Indicates there is a problem with your benefits.
• Asks you to pay to receive a prize.
• Suggests that paying will increase the chance of winning.
• Requests financial information, such as a bank account or credit card number.
• Pressures you to act immediately.
• Tells you to pay using a specific method, such as a gift card or cryptocurrency.

If this happens, remember that the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, Medicare, and your bank do not call, email, or text to ask for money or personal information. They do not demand that you pay immediately, and they do not accept payment by gift card, prepaid debit card, cryptocurrency, or another untraceable form of money transfer.

When you suspect a scam:

• Hang up or close the message. Do not respond in any way.
• Remain calm.
• Think back over the call. Write down any personal information you may have inadvertently shared.
• Report the scam. Contact the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You may also want to report the incident to your state’s attorney general or your local consumer protection agency.
• Share your knowledge. Talk with family, friends, and neighbors about your experience so they know what to look out for.

When you receive a digital message, no matter how official it seems, do not click on any links. Do not give or confirm any personal information, including your name, birth date, phone number, address, email address, place of birth, driver’s license, passport, or Social Security numbers, bank or other account numbers, and PIN numbers.

Being skeptical can keep you safe. Remove yourself from the situation. Do not share information. If you feel anxious and need to confirm that it was a scam, contact the organization using a method provided on their official website.

IRS Urges Taxpayers to Not Fall Prey to “Ghost Tax Preparers”

A common problem seen during tax season, “ghost preparers” pop up to encourage taxpayers to take advantage of tax credits and benefits for which they do not qualify. These preparers can charge a large percentage fee of the refund or even steal the entire tax refund. After the tax return is prepared, these “ghost preparers” can simply disappear, leaving well-meaning taxpayers to deal with the consequences.

While most tax professionals offer quality service, these ghost preparers and other unscrupulous preparers try to take advantage of people and should be avoided at all costs. The IRS encourages people to use a trusted tax professional, and IRS.gov has important information to help people choose a reputable, accredited practitioner.

Warning Signs to Look Out For

Most tax return preparers provide honest, high-quality service. But some may cause harm through fraud, identity theft and other scams. Paid preparers must sign and include a valid preparer tax identification number (PTIN) on every tax return. A ghost preparer is someone who does not sign tax returns they prepare. These unethical tax return preparers should be avoided, especially if they refuse to sign a complete paper tax return or digital form when filing electronically.

Taxpayers are also encouraged to check the tax preparer’s credentials and qualifications to make sure they are capable of assisting with the taxpayer’s needs. The IRS offers resources for taxpayers to educate themselves on types of preparers, representation rights, as well as a Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications to help choose which tax preparer is the best fit.

Some of the warning signs of a bad preparer include:

• Shady fees. Taxpayers should always ask about service fees. Shady tax preparers can ask for a cash-only payment without providing a receipt. They are also known to base their fees on a percentage of the taxpayer’s refund.
• False income. Untrustworthy tax preparers may also invent false income to try to get their clients more tax credits or claim fake deductions to boost the size of the refund.
• Wrong bank account. Taxpayers should also be wary of a tax preparer attempting to convince them to deposit the taxpayer’s refund in their bank account rather than the taxpayer’s account.

Good preparers ask to see all relevant documents like receipts, records, and tax forms. They also ask questions to determine the client’s total income, deductions, tax credits and other items. Taxpayers should never hire a preparer who e-files a tax return using a pay stub instead of a Form W-2. This is also against IRS e-file rules.

Report Fraudulent Activity and Scams

The IRS highly encourages people to report tax return preparers who deliberately prepare improper returns and any activity that promotes improper and abusive tax schemes.

To report an abusive tax scheme or a tax return preparer, people should use the online Form 14242 – Report Suspected Abusive Tax Promotions or Preparers, or mail or fax a completed Form 14242 and any supporting material to the IRS Lead Development Center in the Office of Promoter Investigations.

Mail: Internal Revenue Service Lead Development Center MS7900 1973 N. Rulon White Blvd. Ogden, UT 84404 Fax: 877-477-9135

Alternatively, taxpayers and tax practitioners may send the information to the IRS Whistleblower Office for possible monetary award.

Maryland Budget Reconciliation Act (HB 352)

The Maryland Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act of 2025 (HB 352) will be heard this week, and it includes significant tax and financial changes that will impact businesses, individual taxpayers, and the broader economy. Below are several provisions from the bill.

• Individual Income Tax Increases: The proposed tax rate hikes, particularly with county increases, could result in combined rates nearing 9%, potentially driving residents and businesses to neighboring states.
• Marriage Penalty: Current filing thresholds create inequities for married taxpayers.
• Estate Tax Reduction: The proposal to reduce the estate tax exclusion from $5 million to $2 million would disproportionately impact small business owners, family farms, and middle-income households. This could force asset liquidation and drive wealthier individuals out of state.
• Itemized Deduction Removal: Eliminating itemized deductions without increasing the standard deduction to match federal levels would penalize taxpayers who rely on deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions.
• Combined Reporting for Corporations: The bill proposes new corporate tax compliance measures that would create significant administrative burdens for businesses and tax preparers.
• Retail Delivery Fee: This new tax on consumer deliveries acts as an additional sales tax burden.

How You Can Advocate

We encourage you to contact your state delegates and representatives to voice any concerns you may have about HB 352. Here is how:

1. Find Your Representatives: Use the Maryland General Assembly's Legislator Lookup to identify your elected officials.
2. Call or Email Them: Express your concerns, particularly about the estate tax reduction, income tax increases, and itemized deduction removal.
3. Talking Points:
4. "I am a Maryland tax professional, and I am concerned that HB 352, as currently written, will create significant financial burdens on Marylanders."
5. "The estate tax reduction will disproportionately impact small business owners and force many to relocate or sell assets."
6. "Eliminating itemized deductions without raising the standard deduction will harm taxpayers who rely on mortgage and charitable deductions."
7. "Businesses need more time to adjust to the combined reporting requirement to avoid administrative burdens."

If you have any questions about the bill and how it my impact you, please contact us.

Did you Know? This Week in History

February 26, 1919: Grand Canyon is Designated a National Park

Located in northwestern Arizona, the Grand Canyon is the product of millions of years of excavation by the mighty Colorado River. The chasm runs exceptionally deep, dropping more than a mile into the earth, and is 15 miles across at its widest point. The canyon is home to more than 1,500 plant species and over 500 animal species, many of them endangered or unique to the area, and its steep, multi-colored walls tell the story of two billion years of Earth’s history.

In 1540, members of an expedition sent by the Spanish explorer Coronado became the first Europeans to discover the canyon—though because of its remoteness, the area was not further explored until 300 years later. American geologist John Wesley Powell, who popularized the term “Grand Canyon” in the 1870s, became the first person to lead a journey across the entire length of the gorge in 1869. The harrowing voyage was made in four rowboats.

In January 1908, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt designated more than 800,000 acres of the Grand Canyon a national monument. It took more than a decade for it to gain full national park status.

Weekly Focus

“The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.”

Hannah Arendt, Historian and Philosopher

”It is hard to beat a guy when he has got his mind made up that he is going to win.”

Muhammad Ali, Boxer and Social Activist

Links & Disclaimers

Investment advisory services offered through SPC Financial® (SPC), an investment advisory firm registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill, training or endorsement by the SEC.

We have placed the security of our communications with clients, prospects and others at a very high priority. Please keep in mind that email through the Internet is not 100% secure or confidential. There are many ways which email security and confidentiality may be compromised, either intentionally through viruses, malware and unlawful interceptions or inadvertently through errors and mistakes. Although we utilize encryption for highly confidential information, the use of the internet for transferring documents and information through websites, portals, vaults and other document sharing software and applications is not 100% secure.

Any information provided in this email has been prepared from sources believed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed by SPC, including its owners or employees, and is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making a financial decision. Any information provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a recommendation. The officers, directors, and employees of SPC may own securities mentioned in this email, including options to purchase or sell the securities.

Before making a legal or tax decision, you should contact an appropriate professional. Any tax information or advice contained in this message is confidential and subject to the Accountant/Client Privilege.

eMoney Advisor, LLC (eMoney) provides the platform for Insights by SPC Financial®. eMoney is an independent organization and is not owned or controlled by SPC or its owners or employees.

SPC, including its employees, does not accept client orders or account instructions by email. All orders and instructions must be verbally confirmed with SPC. This email: (a) is not an official transaction confirmation or account statement; (b) is not an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to transact in any security; (c) is intended only for the addressee; and (d) may not be retransmitted to, or used by, any other party. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. This email may contain confidential or privileged information; please notify the sender and delete immediately if you are not the intended recipient. SPC monitors emails and may be required by law or regulation to disclose emails to third parties.

Investment products are: Not deposits. Not FDIC or NCUA Insured. Not guaranteed by SPC or any financial institution. Subject to risk. May Lose Value.

The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), commonly known as "The Dow" is an index used to measure the daily stock price movements of 30 large, publicly owned U.S. companies. The NASDAQ composite is an unmanaged index of securities traded on the NASDAQ system.

The MSCI ACWI (All Country World Index) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. As of June 2007, the MSCI ACWI consisted of 48 country indices comprising 23 developed and 25 emerging market country indices. Bond prices and yields are subject to change based upon market conditions and availability. If bonds are sold prior to maturity, you may receive more or less than your initial investment. There is an inverse relationship between interest rate movements and fixed income prices. Generally, when interest rates rise, fixed income prices fall and when interest rates fall, fixed income prices rise.

The Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index is a market capitalization-weighted index, meaning the securities in the index are weighted according to the market size of each bond type. Most U.S. traded investment grade bonds are represented.

Please note, direct investment in any index is not possible. Sector investments are companies engaged in business related to a specific sector. They are subject to fierce competition and their products and services may be subject to rapid obsolescence. There are additional risks associated with investing in an individual sector, including limited diversification.

Third-party links are being provided for informational purposes only. SPC is not affiliated with and does not endorse, authorize, sponsor, verify or monitor any of the listed websites or their respective sponsors, and is not responsible or liable for the content of any website, or the collection or use of information regarding any website's users and/or members. Links are believed to be accurate at time of dissemination, but we make no guarantee, expressed or implied, to the accuracy of the links subsequently.

This may constitute a commercial email message under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. If you do not wish to receive marketing or advertising related email messages from us, please click the “unsubscribe” link within this email message. You will continue to receive emails from us related to servicing your account(s).

Sources:

https://www.aaii.com/sentimentsurvey https://www.aaii.com/sentimentsurvey/sent_results https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-02-19/are-retail-investors-too-bearish-probably-not?srnd=undefined https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-18/investors-are-the-most-risk-on-in-15-years-bofa-survey-shows https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-022125?mod=hp_LEDE_C_1 https://www.barrons.com/market-data https://www.carsonwealth.com/insights/blog/market-commentary-seeing-the-big-picture-stocks-still-making-new-highs-and-household-balance-sheets-are-healthy/ https://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/TextView?type=daily_treasury_yield_curve&field_tdr_date_value_month=202502 https://weather.com/forecast/regional/news/2025-02-16-arctic-blast-temperature-record-week-ahead https://www.accuweather.com/en/winter-weather/iditarod-forced-to-move-again-due-to-lack-of-alaska-snow/1746306 https://weather.com/safety/winter/news/2024-01-12-record-coldest-temperatures-in-united-states# https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/grand-canyon-designated-a-national-park https://www.weather.gov/dlh/January21_FrigidMorningLowTemperatures# https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/members/district https://www.waaytv.com/news/alabama/remembering-the-deadly-impact-of-the-1974-tornado-super-outbreak-in-north-alabama/article_e2fae1e8-f116-11ee-9158-2f139a26c420.html# https://www.history.com/news/worlds-most-catastrophic-floods-in-photos https://www.12news.com/article/weather/dust-storm-haboob-rolled-through-phoenix-on-july-5-2011/75-f48e08d6-d33f-4992-b40f-c9b6bdc17bd3 https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/winter-warmup-weather-whiplash-us