As I mentioned yesterday and in my monthly Market Thoughts video, I’m worried about Greece, but in many ways, I’m more concerned about China. We know about China’s slowing economy and the need to transition from infrastructure- and export-led growth to consumer-driven growth, but these are long-term trends and were basically going well.

What’s new—and worrying—is the boom and subsequent plunge in the Chinese stock market.

Starting today, I’m introducing a new format for my Monday posts, briefly highlighting key stories from the past week plus items to watch in the week ahead. Of course, I’ll continue to provide more detailed analyses of major topics throughout the week, as situations develop.

In my latest Market Thoughts video, I discuss recent difficulties in the U.S. financial markets, as well as ongoing problems in Greece and China. I also provide an update on U.S. economic performance in June.

One of the things I’ve been meaning to do this summer is take an analytical look at the Shemitah, a quasi-biblical prophecy that predicts a crisis every seven years—which means the U.S. is due for “financial ruin” this year.

Yesterday, a reader wrote in with a question about what might happen to a U.S. citizen’s deposit in a Greek bank. I don’t have the answer, but the question made me think about U.S. bank deposits, which led me to imagine what the next wave of doom-and-gloom commentary here in the U.S. might be.

Yesterday wasn’t a good day for the stock market—anywhere. When I wrote yesterday’s post, the U.S. markets were only off by a bit. But the drop later in the day looked like it might be a bad sign; at a little over 2 percent, it was the largest one-day dip in some time.

The headlines this morning are all about Greece, as they should be. But to put things in context, let’s first go back to recent economic news here in the U.S. In order to understand what the Greek crisis means to us, we have to understand where the U.S. economy is today.

Today’s post is from my colleague Peter Essele, portfolio manager in Commonwealth’s Investment Management group. See you next week! — Brad

I’d say that nine out of ten questions I’ve fielded recently are some variation on the title of this post. Many people seem to think that the impending rise in rates will have a kind of snowball effect on bond markets—that rising rates will lead to price declines on bond strategies, which will lead to outflows, followed by more price declines due to forced selling, and then more outflows.

The topic of the day, once more, is Greece. Frankly, I’m sick of writing about Greece, and I’m sure everyone involved in the negotiations, including the Greeks, is even more tired of the whole thing than I am.

Here's the question: Why do we all continue to bother? What makes Greece worthy of such continued attention?

A major demographic transition is under way in the U.S., with the baby boom generation aging into retirement as the millennials (or echo boomers) start to enter their prime earning and spending years. This is a well-known story, but lately I’ve been thinking about a worrying new take on it.