2020 Reviews

January 29, 2021
What a ride. After the fastest bear market in history, the S&P 500 finished 2020 up by 18.4%. Smaller capitalization stocks, as measured by the Russell 2000, outperformed larger stocks and returned 20% for the year. Small cap stocks had meaningfully underperformed on a year-to-date basis entering the 4th quarter but saw exceptionally strong performance in Q4 returning over 31% over the final 3 months of the year relative to just 12.1% for the S&P 500.
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October 20, 2020
In an abrupt shift from the previous quarter, the S&P 500 increased 20.5%, its eighth best quarter since 1928. Fiscal and monetary policy in the U.S. and globally, in conjunction with measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, provided a backstop to the decline in markets and sent risky assets higher. International stocks also did well. The MSCI ACWI ex USA IMI returned 17%, with emerging market stocks slightly outperforming developed market stocks.
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July 16, 2020
In an abrupt shift from the previous quarter, the S&P 500 increased 20.5%, its eighth best quarter since 1928. Fiscal and monetary policy in the U.S. and globally, in conjunction with measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, provided a backstop to the decline in markets and sent risky assets higher. International stocks also did well. The MSCI ACWI ex USA IMI returned 17%, with emerging market stocks slightly outperforming developed market stocks.
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April 13, 2020
2020 started off with a bang as both stocks and bonds extending their substantial gains from 2019 over the first six weeks of the year. The second half of February saw this economic cycle and bull market, which will go down as the longest on record,
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March 28, 2020
The President has just signed yesterday a roughly $2.2 trillion coronavirus response bill intended to speed relief across the American economy. Forgive our attempt at brevity since the original text of the Senate bill was 883 pages, and the final law was 271 pages..
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March 24, 2020
As a result of Judge Lina Hidalgo’s order to “Stay Home Work Safe” for the city of Houston as well as Harris County, we have taken measures to protect our firm family and to protect our valued clients’ interests. During the coronavirus outbreak, our continued focus is on providing ongoing services and support to achieve your financial goals, preserve capital, and provide ongoing tax support services while providing for the safety and well-being of our employees.  FinGroup is deemed to be one of 16 critical infrastructure sectors (i.e., financial services) which is an essential operation under Judge Lina Hidalgo’s directive to “Stay Home Work Safe”. 
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March 18, 2020
March 18, 2020 (Houston, TX) – Like all of us, FinGroup is keeping abreast of ongoing developments regarding the novel COVID-19/Coronavirus.  We are confirming that FinGroup’s business operations remain intact, with no material impact on our operations.  We stand ready to assist you via all modes of communication, including telephone, video conferencing, etc. In order to protect our valued professional staff as well as our valued clients (i.e., you), we are limiting, but not eliminating, face-to-face meetings in order to follow guidelines published by the Federal government as well the City of Houston.
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March 13, 2020
Virus-related volatility persisted in markets this week. The S&P 500 was down more than 16% through Thursday’s close, with international stocks faring the same. On Wednesday the market experienced the largest single day decline since the flash crash on Black Monday in 1987. High volatility persisted throughout the week as markets ended Friday with the single largest one-day gain since the global financial crisis over a decade ago.
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March 6, 2020
In light of recent market moves, we wanted to share our views on the potential impact from the coronavirus (COVID-19) on markets. We, of course, are not virologists and do not have views on the particulars of the virus itself. However, there has been a great deal of speculation on what impact this might have on financial markets. We are not dismissive of these concerns and are monitoring the situation.
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February 28, 2020
In light of recent market moves, we wanted to share our views on the potential impact from the coronavirus (COVID-19) on markets. We, of course, are not virologists and do not have views on the particulars of the virus itself. However, there has been a great deal of speculation on what impact this might have on financial markets. We are not dismissive of these concerns and are monitoring the situation.
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