Jason Blackwell, CFA

Introduction Investment markets produced another strong quarter of returns despite a deteriorating geopolitical landscape. The Federal Reserve (Fed) cut interest rates, kicking off the highly anticipated process of normalizing...

For the last 12 months, we’ve argued that it was premature to make portfolio changes based on one’s outlook for the US election. That advice remains unchanged. While the...

We’d rather be impelled than compelled to do something. We suspect Fed Chairman Jay Powell shares this sentiment, particularly when pondering changes to interest rates. After the Fed’s most...

The Colony Group’s investment leadership team shares their insights and outlook for the economy and markets after hitting new highs. During this webinar, our speakers will explore four “peaks”...

Introduction Investment markets largely performed well during the second quarter despite getting off to an inauspicious start, with the S&P 500 recording its first monthly decline of the year...

After what felt like a downpour of April showers, markets rebounded strongly in May, pushing the S&P 500 to record highs. Investors breathed a sigh of relief as inflation...

April was rough for investors as nearly all major asset classes experienced declines. Equities and bonds fell as investors grappled with geopolitics, stubborn inflation, selling related to tax payments,...

Introduction  The calendar might have turned the page to a new year, but the market continued to march higher, with the S&P 500 recording its strongest first quarter return...

Campaigning for the general election has unofficially begun and so has the quadrennial discussion over whether investors should care. Generally, we believe the answer is no. The US economy’s...

On January 10th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approved ten spot-bitcoin exchange traded products (ETPs), after more than five years of denying approvals. Suggesting that their approval...

After 18 months of waiting for a recession, investors entered 2024 with optimism that the Fed just might have executed the elusive “soft landing.” Our investment leadership team provides...

2023 was a reminder of how common it is for investment markets to confound the greatest number of investors. Most prognosticators entered 2023 predicting that inflation would remain sticky...

This year’s strong return for the S&P 500 through October belies the fact that it has not been a good year for most stocks. Indeed, the equal-weighted S&P 500...

Introduction Equity markets declined during the third quarter following a surprisingly strong first half of the year. Investors had started to warm to the idea that the Federal Reserve...

The September Federal Reserve meeting delivered the pause in rate hikes that markets were expecting, but with a twist, as Chairman Powell suggested they may keep rates higher for...

Hear from The Colony Group's Jason Blackwell, Chief Investment Strategist on Nasdaq TradeTalks to discuss the market’s reaction to CPI data and signs of easing in the housing market. 

How has consumer spending varied this year? The Colony Group's Jason Blackwell, Chief Investment Strategist, explains in this recent article with Market Watch.

For two years, the collective gaze of investors and economists has remained fixated on a monthly assessment of economic conditions and Federal Reserve policy. However, it is crucial for...

The rally in equities continued unabated during the second quarter, discrediting those prognosticators that were calling for a difficult first half of the year. The banking sector, which emerged...

The Colony Group's Jason Blackwell, Chief Investment Officer spoke with Barron's about recommendations for retirees to diversify. 

The Fed did something noteworthy at its June 2023 meeting by doing nothing. After raising rates at each of its previous ten meetings, the committee determined that a wait-and-see...

The Colony Group's Jason Blackwell, Chief Investment Strategist, spoke with Kiplinger to discuss investment strategies for today's market. Read the full article here.

The most frustrating crises are those borne of our own actions. This is why we believe the risk of a default by the United States of America is among...

Investor uncertainty has grown significantly over the last year amidst rising geopolitical polarization and tighter monetary conditions. With the collapse of SVB and pressure on the broader banking sector,...

Introduction Many investors believe that the signal for policymakers to stop hiking interest rates is when “something breaks.” After more than a year of rate increases, something finally broke,...

There were many winners in March, with the S&P 500 Index up more than 3.5% and the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index up 2.5%; however, banks were not among them....

Throughout time, many investors considered bonds to be relatively boring. Their contractually obligated interest payments made returns easy to forecast for investors that held to maturity. Then 2022 happened....

Legendary investor, Howard Marks, wrote in a 2016 memo that “in the real world, things generally fluctuate between ‘pretty good’ and ‘not so hot.’ But in the world of...

Last year it seemed that investment markets were aligned against investors. As the Fed raised rates at a record-setting pace in modern history, equities posted their worst returns since...

2022 was a challenging year for investors, as both equities and bonds posted losses. Most stock markets across the world experienced a bear market during the year. Despite less...

The Colony Group's Jason Blackwell was recently featured in the article "Stocks close higher in year-end rally. Nasdaq adds more than 2%". Read the full CNBC coverage here. 

In November, we described how the real economy might soon begin to reflect some of the weakness experienced by the financial markets throughout 2022. One of the early places...

While Main Street may soon experience an economic slowdown, Wall Street has been wrestling with the prospect of slowing growth for the last ten months. Throughout the Fed’s record-setting...

The Colony Group’s Jason Blackwell spoke with The Hill about investing in bonds. Read “How to prepare for a potential recession in 2023" here. 

Sharp sell-offs in the bond and stock markets have contributed to recent and unique economic circumstances. With so much uncertainty around the globe, where should investors focus? Our investment...

Investment markets got off to a promising start in the third quarter before ending with a thud. After a challenging first half of the year, risk assets began a...

For most of the last decade, bond markets offered low risk and low returns. An investment in a 10-year Treasury bond, considered free from the risk of default, offered...

It’s a time-honored tradition for kids to throw parties when their parents leave town. In August, they got their chance, as the Federal Reserve (the Fed) had a break...

July brought welcome relief to investors, with the S&P 500 logging its best monthly return since November 2020. Markets spent the first six months of the year undoubtedly worried...

The first half of 2022 proved to be the worst start for stocks since 1970. What might lie in store for the second half? Join our investment team for...

U.S. equities experienced their worst first-half performance since 1970. Typically, when equities suffer from large declines, investors can rely on their fixed-income investments to help soften the blow. That...

The last year has been challenging for investors in Chinese equities. The country’s zero-tolerance COVID policy has led to frequent lockdowns of major cities, which have taken a toll...

More than 20 million people began investing since the onset of COVID, by some estimates. Dubbed “robinhooders, meme traders, redittors, or stonk investors,” many have received a crash course...

The final trading day of April added insult to injury on an already rough month for stocks. On the back of an abysmal earnings report from one of the...

The unusual nature of the global pandemic helped lead to the extraordinary economic cycle we are currently experiencing. Over the past two years, we have had the shortest economic...

For more than 80 years, the most reliable deterrent against nuclear weapons was the fear that the retaliation would cause the annihilation of both sides. Many have described recent...

At the end of January, we hosted our annual market outlook webinar. Little did we know that it would occur in the midst of one of the most volatile...

After another record-breaking year in the markets, what’s in store for 2022? Will it be another year of singing the “Inflation Blues?” (artist: B.B. King) or will “Three Little...

COVID and inflation are key concerns for investors, but how central banks navigate these uncertainties may be more...

For the last 23 months, COVID-related risks tempered nearly every pundit’s outlook for both the economy and the investment markets. “Future developments in COVID could alter our forecast” has...

Happy holidays to our Colony Group clients and friends! In 2021, our company celebrated 35 years since its founding in 1986. To reflect on this incredible milestone, our team...

The holiday season is generally a good time to reflect on inflation. To that end, this year’s Thanksgiving turkey was reportedly more expensive than any year before. Undoubtedly, the...

Warren Buffett is renowned for his long-term, strategic approach to investing, which has driven decades of strong compounded returns for him and his investors. One of his more memorable quips was that his favorite holding period is “forever.” While...

Investors have been forecasting the demise of the fixed-income asset class for decades. Extraordinarily low nominal yields have constrained forecasted returns from bonds. Market participants have been waiting for...

"For investors, the impact fiscal policy can have on the overall economy, interest rates, specific industries, and individual companies can be quite significant," says Jason Blackwell to Business Insider.

Investment markets began to show signs of fatigue in September, though most asset classes were able to produce positive returns for the third...

Investors experienced wild swings in September, something they have been unaccustomed to for most of 2021. The S&P 500 posted several days with declines of greater than 1%. It...

Geopolitical tensions are rising at an unfortunate time for President Biden as he tries to push through what would be the largest spending package in over 100 years. This ambitious domestic agenda is seemingly at risk due, in part, to foreign policy missteps. Most notably among them was last month’s dismount from the...

With public equity valuations at historic highs and traditional fixed income yields at historic lows, investors may need to seek new sources of return to meet their targets. Many...

Records are falling around the globe – and not just at the Olympics. Olympic athletes have set 20 world records in Tokyo. In the economy, the National Bureau of...

"It will be at least the fall before we really know how transitory the inflation is," says Jason Blackwell.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Well crafted sourdough and inflation have a lot in common. For both, you need more than the right ingredients (Flour, Water, and Salt or Production, Liquidity and Innovation). To...

The bull market is alive and well as the S&P 500 posted its strongest first-half-year gains since 1998.  However, last winter’s optimism over the development of effective vaccines and an...

Businesses and households have different perceptions of the current job market. The Bureau of Labor and Statistic’s establishment data suggests that plenty of jobs are available. The Bureau’s household...

The Federal Reserve (led by the “Dread Pirate Powell”) and the market (personified by “Mr. Market”) are currently engaged in a battle of wits. Pundits argue that improving economic...

Stocks continued to rally in April, with the S&P 500 returning more than 5.3%. The increase came despite President Biden announcing plans to raise taxes on investment income for households earning more than $1 million per year.  Biden’s plan...

Each quarter, we bring you inside Colony’s Investment Committee discussions to learn, first-hand, about the trends that affect the markets, and how they may shape our investment outlook. Top trends we’re...

March 2021 was profitable for equity investors, with the S&P 500 advancing more than 4%. The path to get here has been volatile, however, something we suggested may occur at the outset of the year. Volatility was particularly evident in the U.S. Treasury markets, which saw rates dance along in a “two steps forward, one step...

One year ago today, on March 23, 2020, the market reached its COVID-Crash nadir. Anniversaries, such as this, provide an opportunity to reflect on what transpired. Unlike past crises,...

Inflation was at the top of investors’ minds for much of February as they tried to parse inflation expectations and its impact on their portfolios. Equities capped off an...

Both Jason Blackwell and Richard Steinberg share their investing advice in Money's comprehensive guide for new investors.

In the 2021: Great Expectations webinar, our Investment Leadership Team provided their insights on the markets and economy and addressed questions on the minds of investors including: Should investors anticipate similar...

"Though there’s been some run-up in emerging markets, there is still plenty of room to grow, in part because countries haven’t completely recovered from the pandemic-induced economic shock," said Jason Blackwell.

December marked the end of the best quarter over the last 25 years for smaller, publicly traded companies’ stocks. The S&P SmallCap 600 Index advanced 8.3% for the month and a whopping 31.3% for the quarter. These gains are more impressive when compared against the S&P...

The best part of getting a shot in the arm is the sugary treat that often comes with it. As concerns shifted in November from if an effective vaccine...

Election watchers have experienced a range of emotions over the last few days, as votes have trickled in from key battleground states. As of this writing, we do not yet have a definitive outcome, except that, while still possible, neither party is guaranteed to control both...

Surgery is scary but relatively easy work for the patient thanks to anesthesia. The hard work comes after the patient wakes up and starts the rehabilitation and recovery process....

“This is a lower-stakes way to learn how to manage money,” says Jason Blackwell in his interview with Money.com in responding to purchasing fractional shares.

"For most investors, the Dow's changes likely don't impact much in their portfolios,” says Jason Blackwell to US News & World Report.

A 2019 study by the National Academy of Sciences confirms the widely held belief that humans are drawn to negative news. Results from a 17-country, 6-continent study showed that...

Plan sponsors often struggle to develop an investment plan that meets the diverse needs of their plan participants while fulfilling the requirements of their fiduciary duties. This white paper is a guide to optimize your retirement plan for participant success....

It may surprise you that the deepest recession in modern history has not hit Main Street, yet. While this data glosses over the pain being felt by some households,...

As schools shut down this spring, many students missed out on a lesson often taught in physical education classes: how to dance the box step. Forward-side-together; backward-side-together. Coming into...

Data like OpenTable reservations, which have “been encouraging so far,” can help track whether business is picking back up, said Jason Blackwell, a CFA and Chief Investment Strategist of The Colony Group.

Despite a wild ride thus far in June, the S&P 500 Index is effectively flat for the month. After rising 6.2% through Monday (June 8th), which took the index...

Distressed debt and real estate present opportunities but "...be wary of buying into existing real-estate portfolios because the estimated value of properties within the portfolios may not reflect coronavirus-related declines yet," said Jason Blackwell, CFA, CAIA®, Chief Investment Strategist.

"Keep an eye on indicators like unemployment numbers and consumer behavior. When people are out and resuming their normal activities, that will be a sign that the country is on the path to recovery," said Jason Blackwell, Chief Investment Strategist.

In considering a recovery from the current crisis, our focus has been on relaxing (but not eliminating) social distancing measures, the impact of fiscal and monetary responses, and the...

"You either risk not keeping up with your required returns by increasing cash and protecting principal, or you take on more principal risk for a better opportunity to meet long-term targets," said Jason Blackwell, Chief Investment Strategist.

The Colony Group is advising investors to “focus more on domestic demand” than global trade, said, Jason Blackwell, Chief Investment Strategist.

“We’re looking at strategies that will help the Chinese middle-class consumer paint the inside of their home rather than ones that focus on selling a television made in China to an American consumer,” Blackwell says. “The number one pizza delivery company in India deserves attention, as do online education services in China.”

Investment markets have spent the past few weeks consolidating its big bounce off the lows. We believe returns have stabilized, as evidenced by relatively measured daily price moves in...

A number of memes have circulated over the last six weeks describing April as the longest month in history. We yearn for everyday occurrences like getting haircuts, enjoying a meal at a restaurant, and seeing our friends, clients, and coworkers in person. The...

Oil was in the spotlight this week, and the news here was not positive. Oil futures contracts for May delivery settled in negative territory for the first time in...

Jason Blackwell, Chief Investment Strategist at The Colony Group, a national wealth management firm, agrees: “Market timing rarely works out,” he says, “and we believe that investors need to determine the right shares to buy more than the right time to buy more of them.”

He would rather “investors take a measured approach to allocate to new or existing opportunities and are comfortable being ‘a little early’ now and potentially 'a little late’ later by spreading out investments over a number of weeks or even months."

One of the most dangerous phases of a hurricane comes as the first half of the storm passes and the eye of the storm is overhead. The winds calm...

One asset class, in particular, is set to receive the most intense scrutiny, says Jason Blackwell, Chief Investment Strategist for The Colony Group. “The coronavirus crisis is likely to be most impactful on fixed income,” Blackwell says.

People are gripped with fear. We fear getting sick, losing our jobs, and watching our portfolios decline in value. That is a very understandable reaction to the crisis in which we currently find...

At The Colony Group, we take a long-term perspective despite a shorter-term news cycle. During this period of higher uncertainty, we aim to provide more frequent market updates and...

For our most recent update on the COVID-19, please read: What A Week, Really This Time Equity markets opened sharply down again this morning following President Trump’s address to the nation....

This week was another wild ride in the markets but we returned almost back to where we started. Virus Global cases have now topped 100,000 and we anticipate seeing...

January 2020 started off well enough with both U.S. and Emerging Markets taking turns as the top performer among equities, both up ~3% year-to-date as of January 17th. Then,...

By: Jason Blackwell, CFA, CAIA®, Chief Investment Strategist; Brian Katz, CFA, Chief Investment Officer; Richard Steinberg, CFA, Chief Market Strategist A review of October’s investment returns may cause you...

By: Jason Blackwell, CFA, CAIA®, Chief Investment Strategist; Brian Katz, CFA, Chief Investment Officer & Richard Steinberg, CFA, Chief Market Strategist Movies developed using technicolor appear highly saturated if...