You’ve heard it before: trading today’s stock market can be hazardous to both your wealth and health. The market can go up fast…and it can fall even faster. In such an environment, many sophisticated investors and portfolio managers turn to “absolute return” strategies that seek to make money no matter where the market goes.

Volatility returned to the marketplace with a vengeance last week, and we should be prepared for more of the same this week. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday the market moved 2% or more – in opposite directions each day.  The S&P 500 was down 2% on Wednesday, up more than 2% on Thursday, and down again on Friday nearly 3%.

Last week, the market was very selective, with only Large-cap Growth in positive territory -- think Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Amazon (Nasdaq:  AMZN), and American Express (NYSE: AXP). All other cap/styles were negative -- and the smaller you were, the more you lost. In fact, this entire month the market has beat up on small-caps with its "the smaller you are, the more you lose" bias.

by Scott Martindale, Senior Managing Director

by Scott Martindale, Senior Managing Director

Scott Martindale

by David Brown, Chief Market Strategist

David Brown