Entries by Ronald Bernardi
37 YEARS
of serving Investors, Issuers, and the Municipal Bond Market THANK YOU. We wish you and your family a healthy and prosperous 2022 and offer our profound “thank you” for your continued confidence in the Bernardi team. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to help you, your family, organization, community, and constituents. September 30, 2021 marked […]
Keeping Calm and Carrying On
I hope you and your families are well. I hope everyone is safe. The current state of affairs all of us face is fluid, so I want to provide you with periodic updates. Thankfully to date, the entire Bernardi Securities team remains healthy, safe, and engaged in our commitments to our clients and enterprise. As […]
Support and Guidance for our Clients, Bernardi Team Members and Colleagues
Good afternoon everyone. We are all experiencing unprecedented events and uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 health threat. I am writing to provide a brief summary of actions we undertook last week to ensure our firm remains fully operational to serve our clients while protecting the safety and health of our valued staff. Over the last […]
REGULATION BEST INTEREST
A FOUNDATIONAL PILLAR: INVESTOR FAITH AND TRUST The municipal bond market provides our economy with a deep pool of investment capital. Simply stated, Municipal Bonds Build America. Investor participation is high as both individual and institutional investors commit their savings to build our nation’s infrastructure: schools, town halls, county courthouses, airports, water and sewer treatment plants, recreation facilities, […]
Happy New Year and Thank You
We wish everyone a happy New Year. October 1st marked the first day of our 35th year at Bernardi Securities. In the fall of 1984 my father, Ed Bernardi, and several others opened the doors of Bernardi Securities for the first time. Our office was located across the street from City Hall at 134 North […]
The Magic of 34
The “Magic Square of 34” appears in the upper right side of Albrecht Durer’s 1514 copper plated masterpiece, “Melancholia.” The allegorical work is the subject of many interpretations. One interpretation asserts the scene depicts the age of Humanism, both its creative successes and unsolved frustrations.
Throwing the Baby Out with the Bath Water?
As of this writing, the State of Illinois began its fiscal year (July 1) without a budget for an unprecedented third year in a row. Sunday evening the Illinois House of Representatives approved a $36 billion spending plan that increases personal income taxes to 4.95% from the current 3.75% level and the corporate levy to 7% from 5.25%. If the Senate, which approved a tax hike last month, concurs on the House bill it will be presented to the governor for consideration. He has stated he will veto both the House and Senate spending bills as currently written.
Vexing Bond Market Questions
This chart demonstrates the volatility of the 10 year U. S. treasury bond since the beginning of 2016.
This volatility causes anxiety for many and understandably leads to several questions:
- Will long term bond yields increase as the Federal Reserve Bank increases its overnight lending bank rate?
- Should one invest in bonds now or wait until rates rise further?
- What is a proper equity/bond asset allocation given this volatility?
These are pertinent questions and are often posed to our Investment Specialists and Portfolio Managers during the course of a week