Week of January 26, 2026 U.S. GDP growth in the second half of 2025 was significantly stronger than anticipated. For much of the year, policy uncertainty dominated the narrative, leading many economists to expect economic weakness. As ever, forecasting is imperfect, and short-term noise can obscure longer-term trends. Our Signals remain unchanged. Bob Bilkie, CFA

Week of January 19, 2026 President Trump continues to weigh how far the United States is willing to go to intervene in Iran. The Ayatollah’s partial retreat from the use of force against protestors has, for now, helped preserve the regime. As Niall Ferguson notes in The Free Press, meaningful regime change would likely require … Continued

Institutional DeFi platform Sentora recently published a new report, arguing that the corporate adoption of bitcoin as a treasury asset, while popular, resembles “balance sheet roulette.”  The report goes on to suggest that bitcoin’s scarcity and programmability make it an unprecedented corporate asset. But, without scalable yield and durable financing, this is a dangerous game. The … Continued

Week of January 12, 2026 Deniable plausibility or “shock and awe”? That is the dilemma facing the Trump administration as it weighs how to support the Iranian people amid ongoing protests against their government. Iran has warned that U.S. intervention would prompt retaliation, including disrupting shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf and targeting American bases … Continued

This is an old adage that remains relevant but is becoming increasingly difficult for individuals to implement.  Investment opportunities are becoming more complex and may involve fewer familiar products and services.  Investors still have several attractive options, including seeking help from their advisor(s) and considering more diversification. Here at Sigma, we have a team of … Continued

Week of January 5, 2026 Recent U.S. military action targeting Venezuelan narco-terrorists may carry meaningful positive long-term implications. Our assessment of global risk has consistently centered on China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea as the primary sources of geopolitical instability. In the near term, further escalation by these regimes appears less likely following this demonstration … Continued

Week of December 8, 2025 Notably, copper and silver both reached all-time price highs last week. However, lumber and crude oil did not participate in the rally, suggesting that this is not a broad-based commodity surge. Given the recent crash-like behavior in certain cryptocurrencies, the moves may reflect a rotation of speculative activity rather than … Continued

On March 20, 2024, we posted a blog “Homeownership Versus Renting”, which addressed the relative merits of owning versus renting.  Traditionally, owning a home has been a way for US households to build wealth.  In a low interest rate environment, many advisors believed that buying as much house as you could finance was a reasonable … Continued

Week of December 1, 2025 After the brief pullback that pushed down the prices of major domestic technology companies a couple of weeks ago, most shares have recovered over the past week. More importantly, the market rally is broadening: sectors beyond technology—such as healthcare—are moving higher, and smaller companies are also showing renewed strength. This … Continued

I recently went to San Francisco to visit my grandson and, on several occasions, we used Waymo or Uber transportation services.  In all instances, the performance of both the driver (Uber) and non-driver (Waymo) was flawless.  Accessing these services generally requires some cell phone dexterity.  With Waymo, you know what the vehicle will be, but … Continued

Week of November 24, 2025 Bitcoin—the reigning king of crypto—fell back toward its April 2025 lows last week, dropping more than a third in price since the highs reached in October. We used the term “price” versus “value” deliberately. We continue to view Bitcoin primarily as a vehicle for speculation. Our Signals remain unchanged. Bob … Continued