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When Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell speaks, markets listen. Friday, August 23, the markets had a new opportunity to gauge the Fed’s direction when Powell gave a closely watched speech at the annual gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, WY.

Many have asked us what stocks tend to do after a major hurricane hits the United States. Given we had category 4 and 5 hurricanes last year, this question unfortunately seems to come up more than anyone would like.

The U.S. labor market may be kicking the economic expansion into another gear. Consistent productivity growth has been largely absent from the expansion, even as payrolls and wages have grown at a healthy clip. However, strong labor market trends and last year’s pickup in capital expenditures growth could be sparking a resurgence in productivity, which we think could be key to future economic growth.

The Federal Reserve (Fed) has promised patience, but financial markets now want more.

We’ve finally closed the book on a perplexing first quarter.

Gross domestic product (GDP) rose 3.2% last quarter, as shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, the best first-quarter gain since 2015. That figure was also above the highest Bloomberg consensus estimate for growth, an appropriate end to a quarter full of surprises.

“Compounding interest is the eighth wonder of the world.” Albert Einstein

When should you start investing? Yesterday is one of the best answers we can think of. As Einstein stated in his quote, compounding interest can be extremely powerful for investors over time. Compounding interest essentially means “interest on interest,” and it’s why so many long-term investors have been successful.