Spring conference season is over. I’m back at the office and happy to be here. Rather than relaxing, however, I am now wrestling with my next big project: preparing an outlook for the second half of the year. What will happen? And why?

Based on the headlines, last week’s data was disappointing. But the details were more positive, leaving conditions pretty much as expected. In addition, despite the weak current results, previous months generally turned out better than initially reported and were revised upwards. Plus, long-term trends remain positive. So, while not a great month overall, it was better than it first looked for these data points.

One of the stories that has moved back into public view is bitcoin. With recent price spikes, interest in bitcoin has spiked as well, as investors try to get in on what looks like the latest hot thing. In fact, the price has more than doubled this year and has gone parabolic in recent weeks: up from about $1,000 in March to over $2,000 recently. What’s going on?

Brad here. Today’s post is from Peter Essele, one of Commonwealth’s senior portfolio managers on the Preferred Portfolio Services^® Select platform. Peter has written here before about a number of investment issues. I think you will find his take on where markets are right now—with special attention to the VIX, which has been in the news a lot of late—is both timely and potentially important. Over to you, Pete.

Yesterday, I talked about the problems that have led to the current surge of populism and ended with a link to a paper discussing the connection between conventional economic policies and political populism. Today, I will offer a look at what this connection might mean for politics and policies in the future and, of course, the impact for our investments.

There’s a lot of political turmoil around the world—here in the U.S. certainly, but also in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Much of it seems to involve at least some rise in populist ideas. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking, trying to get a sense of the big picture, where these trends are coming from, and where they might be taking us. Today, I’m sharing my thoughts, along with a couple of white papers that I found both interesting and helpful.

Last week’s data was generally positive, with housing sentiment rising even further and industrial production posting a surprisingly large gain. Although there were weak points—multifamily construction is slowing—growth is broad based and may be accelerating. Overall, the results remain positive looking forward.

I am traveling today and away from my usual data sources. The market seems to be bouncing back, though, so I thought I’d take a break from addressing immediate investment worries in favor of some quick thoughts on a few disparate topics that, believe it or not, are connected by a common denominator.  

U.S. markets have bounced back a bit after yesterday’s decline, but I think investors are still rattled by recent developments. I said yesterday that I don’t think this is the onset of the big one, and we shouldn’t worry. At the same time, it is certainly possible that we’ll see markets fall even further. If it’s not time to worry yet, when will it be?

I am in California, which means that I woke up this morning to a market that was already open—and dropping. Washington, DC is the cause once again. Growing turmoil in the nation’s capital has called into question the ability of the Trump Administration and Congress to enact their policy goals.