Weekly Commentaries

AE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 4/5/26-4/11/26

By Basil Schmitz | April 13, 2026

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: April 5-11, 2026 “Ceasefire trade” was on last week After President Trump announced Iran had agreed to hold ceasefire talks last Tuesday — mere hours before his deadline where he threatened to attack and destroy Iran’s power plants and bridges — markets took off. The Dow was up…

AE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 3/29/26 – 4/4/26

By Bailey Adams | April 6, 2026

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: March 29 – April 4, 2026 Rough March tanks Q1, but quarter ends on an up note The Iran conflict continued to dominate the headlines again last week, although the markets had a couple of strong days to close the first quarter and open the second. The Dow…

AE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 3/22/26 – 3/28/26

By Basil Schmitz | March 30, 2026

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: March 22-28, 2026 Mission not yet accomplished As Operation Epic Fury enters its fifth week, we have yet to see the Iranian regime offer any type of openness to negotiating an end to the hostilities. We’re now several weeks past President Donald Trump’s call for an “unconditional surrender”…

AE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 3/15/26 – 3/21/26

By Basil Schmitz | March 23, 2026

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: March 15-21, 2026 Markets struggle as “war premium” weighs on investors Wall Street started last week on a cautiously optimistic note. The S&P 500® climbed 1% on Monday — its best single-day gain since the conflict began — as crude oil prices briefly retreated toward $93 per barrel.1,2…

AE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 3/8/26 – 3/14/26

By Basil Schmitz | March 16, 2026

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: March 8-14, 2026 Conflict and oil prices drive markets downward Epic Fury, the sustained bombing campaign of Iran by the U.S. and Israel that began on February 28, isn’t showing any signs of letting up.1 Based on everything we’re seeing, Iran’s leadership has been decapitated. Iran appointed the…

AE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 3/1/26 – 3/7/26

By Basil Schmitz | March 9, 2026

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: March 1-7, 2026 Iran conflict, oil prices send stocks lower and bond yields higher We focus on financial data or earnings most of the time, and most of the time the markets ebb and flow whichever way the data dictates. But when you have a geopolitical shock, all…

AE Wealth Management: Market Minute — Markets under pressure from jobs miss and oil spike

By Basil Schmitz | March 9, 2026

Markets under pressure from jobs miss and oil spike Two big stories drove market volatility on Friday, March 6. And they’re pulling the Federal Reserve in opposite directions. First, jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics February employment report came in far below expectation.1 Consensus was for +60,000 new jobs; the actual number was -92,000. Last…

AE Wealth Management: Market Minute — Markets and Middle East events

By Basil Schmitz | March 2, 2026

Markets react to strikes on Iran Over the weekend, the U.S. and Israel launched a joint military operation targeting key Iranian leadership. Iran’s supreme leader, who had been in power since the late 1980s, was among those killed. This is a significant geopolitical development, and it’s already having a short-term effect on markets. Some of…

AE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 2/22/26 – 2/28/26

By Basil Schmitz | March 2, 2026

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Feb. 22-28, 2026 Markets had another rough week The fallout from the Supreme Court’s Feb. 13 decision about the president’s use of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and continued AI worries took a bite out of markets last Monday. And things didn’t get much…

AE Wealth Management: Weekly Market Insights | 2/15/26 – 2/21/26

By Basil Schmitz | February 23, 2026

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Feb. 15-21, 2026 Markets shrug off low GDP report Normally, bad news is, well, bad. But a weak fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) number didn’t seem to faze markets. We haven’t closed above 7,000 on the S&P 500 in 2026, but have come tantalizingly close.1 We did close…