Submitted and Written by David Vomund, Investment Advisor

One of the most common (and safest) predictions analysts make is that the market will be volatile.  A Google search shows how popular that prediction was heading into this year.  But those analysts couldn’t have been more wrong.  The S&P 500 rose 10 percent in the first quarter without even a two percent pullback.  In fact, the market went five months without a two percent pullback!  In the last 30 years that has only happened three times (1995, 2006, and 2017).

History says the rally isn’t over.  Since 1950, when the S&P 500 gained 8 percent or more in the first quarter it had an average gain of 9.7 percent over the next three quarters.  I’ll take that.  

Investors of all stripes (including me) bemoaned the narrow nature of the market advance in 2023.  It was focused on seven big-cap stocks called the Magnificent Seven.  That ended.  More stocks participated in the first quarter advance (the average S&P 500 stock gained 7 percent) and a few of the Magnificent Seven weren’t so magnificent. Tesla became the worst performing S&P 500 stock in the first quarter and Apple lost 11 percent.  While growth outperformed value in the first quarter, that gap is narrowing.  Over the last month large and mid-cap value indexes have performed better than the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100.  

On the income side, economists still expect a cut in June.  If true money-market funds will continue to yield more than five percent.  That’s okay, but investors happy to earn five percent are taking duration risk, which is why I still recommend nailing down yields on bonds that mature further out.  Others must agree as the bonds and preferreds in our portfolios have rallied even though the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has moved from 3.86 percent to 4.4 percent this year.  

Bottom line:   Allow for volatile days as the market is buffeted primarily by the changing outlook for inflation, interest rates, and the war in the Middle East.  And expect surprises, both positive and negative.  My base case is for modest earnings growth and declining interest rates with inflation staying down in the 2.5 to 3.0 percent range.  That will be above the Fed’s 2 percent target, which it will raise to 2.5 percent or higher and say that’s close enough. What I have described is a favorable environment for stocks in a bull market.  And that is what we will have.

David Vomund is an Incline Village-based Independent Investment Advisor.  Information is found at www.VomundInvestments.com or by calling 775-832-8555.  Clients hold the positions mentioned in this article.  Past performance does not guarantee future results.  Consult your financial advisor before purchasing any security.

Submitted by Tia Rancourt, North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District

JOIN NEVADA DONOR NETWORK’S SILVER STATE HEROES CHALLENGE

It is National Donate Life Month, and we are honored to support Nevada Donor Network’s mission to save and heal lives through donation by participating in the 2024 Silver State Heroes Challenge along with first responder agencies across the state. 

More than 100,000 people nationwide are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant, including nearly 700 Nevadans. Will you help us bring hope to these 700 Nevadans who are waiting for their second chance through organ donation? Not registered? 

Register here: www.nvdonor.org/nltfd.

Together, we have the power to save and heal lives.

Submitted by Tia Rancourt, North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District

With the change of seasons officially here, it is a good reminder to start thinking about outdoor springtime clean up (that is of course between snowstorms and shoveling your fire hydrant!). During this transitional season change we can anticipate getting ready for fire season and creating our defensible space. This also includes making sure you have a preparedness kit or go bag ready, and for Washoe County residents, that you are signed up for CodeRED Emergency Alert notifications. 

Embrace Village-wide Fire Safety! Secure a Free Defensible Space Inspection Today!

Join hands with the Fire Department to safeguard our community against wildfires. Sign up for your complimentary Defensible Space Inspection, complete with a comprehensive report and photographs. Let’s work together to enhance our understanding of wildfire prevention. Schedule your inspection here. Also, for our free chipping service, please visit here. Please note that both Defensible Space Inspection and Chipping requests for the 2024 season will start May 6, 2024.

In the event of an evacuation, Washoe County Emergency Management has prepared an evacuation video to help understand more about what to expect in an evacuation and how you can be prepared. For example, do you have a Family Emergency Preparedness Plan? 

As the snow is melting, we are also seeing some bear activity in our neighborhoods as they begin to wake up and roam our neighborhoods. Please make sure to keep car doors locked and do not leave food items inside the car. Also consider installing a bear shed (garbage can enclosure) if you do not already have one. Visithttps://www.yourtahoeplace.com/public-works/waste-not/bear-wildlife-awareness for more information.

Helpful Contact Phone Numbers/Websites:

Originally Published in the Sierra Sun on 04/09/2024, Submitted

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – The California Jobs First Initiative, with the Tahoe Prosperity Center as the sub-regional lead, is spearheading efforts in the Tahoe/Nevada Subregion to identify visionary projects that will drive economic growth across various sectors. 

Drawing insights from the Envision Tahoe Prosperity Playbook, a comprehensive source of community-driven development strategies, this initiative marks a significant departure from previous approaches, aiming to direct state funding in a manner that reflects the diverse needs and aspirations of our communities.

They welcome projects offering innovative solutions in sectors such as Environmental Innovation, Health and Wellness, Outdoor/Sustainable Recreation, Working Lands, Precision Manufacturing, and beyond.

READ MORE >

Originally published in the Sierra Sun on 04/08/2024, Written by Brenna O’Boyle

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – When Joe Atack was 11 and growing up in a small village in Northern England, he had a drama teacher who had an incredible impact on him.

“The thing that got me started was a really amazing theater teacher,” said Atack, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival’s new executive director. “Lynda Ross was a catalyst for me to train as an actor. She was a fantastic teacher and a fantastic person. Lynda was really formative in my process to becoming an actor.”

Ross was Atack’s drama teacher and mentor throughout high school.

READ MORE >

Originally published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune on 4/05/2024, Written by Tribune Staff

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – On Wednesday April 3, the Nevada Department of Taxation, Committee on Local Government Finance, accepted Incline Village General Improvement District’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.

On March 29, IVGID submitted the audited financial statements to the Nevada Department of Taxation. It complies with the Nevada Department of Taxation extension deadline.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the CLGF asked IVGID General Manager Bobby Magee to provide a report at its August meeting. At that time, it wants an update on the Forensic Due Diligence Audit results.

READ MORE >

What Would Mark Twain Say?

My father was an optometrist, and everybody knew it because I was always making a spectacle of myself. Dear Old Dad had a collection of glass eyes that he kept in a drawer in his shop, and I purloined one of those glass eyes to showoff to my girlfriend when we were in 7^th grade. I had it worked out in advance, whereupon I asked her if she’d like to see me wash an eyeball. She said yes and I commenced to fake twisting one of my eyeballs loose from its socket and placing it into my mouth, where I sloshed it around, using my tongue to effectively pop my cheeks out, while my girlfriend went, “Eeeew!”

What she did not know was that I had slipped my father’s glass eye into my mouth, and when I felt my eye was sufficiently cleansed, well, I peeked that glass eye out between my lips and my girlfriend let out a squeal that could be heard in Bangor, Maine. She hates me still.  

So naturally, I was drawn to Mark Twain’s frivolous little peace of literature that featured a glass eye, a portion of which we shall share here…

“Now ol’ Miss Jefferson, there was a good soul. Had a glass eye and used to lend it to old Miss Wagner, who hadn’t any, to receive company in; but it warn’t big enough. Miss Jefferson had a number seven and Miss Wagner was excavated for a fourteen! So when Miss Wagner warn’t noticin’, it would get twisted around in the socket, and look up maybe, or out to one side and every which way, whilst t’other one was looking straight ahead as a spy glass.  Oh, one little wink, and that hand-made eye would lay-over.  Well grown people didn’t mind, but it mostly always made the children cry.”

Happily, as an impressionist of Mark Twain, I was able to work ol’ Miss Jefferson right into my programs in full confidence and comfort that my father and my old girlfriend would approve. So just here, as is our custom, we shall leave the last word to Mr. Twain…

“Well, she was always dropping it out, and turning up her old dead light on the company empty, and making everybody so uncomfortable, because she never could tell when it hopped out, being blind on that side, you see. So somebody would have to hunch her and say, ‘Your game eye has fetched loose, Miss Wagner dear’ -and then they’d all have to sit and wait till she jammed it back in again -wrong side out as a general thing. Well, wrong-side out didn’t make much difference anyway, ‘cuz the glass eye was sky blue on the front side and gilded on the back side; so when Miss Wagner would get excited, it would give a whirl, and flash yaller and blue and yaller -No, it warn’t a Jefferson, it was a Hagadon is what it was!” 

Audio: https://open.spotify.com/show/7Fhv4PrH1UuwlhbnTT23zO