Basic financial services are becoming increasingly commoditized. Growing numbers of DIY platforms empower consumers to transfer money, pay bills, borrow, trade securities and invest, all via the convenience of a mobile app or online platform.

As we move into the final quarter of 2018, the landscape is dotted with both opportunities and challenges, created by a combination of Federal Reserve policy, the Trump Administration, and frankly, time.

As we entered the second half of 2018, markets appeared to be hitting an inflection point. On one hand, economic data remained robust, with the consumer fully engaged, wages growing at a modest pace, industrial production steady, and the corporate tax cut creating the opportunity for meaningful investment.

One of the most challenging aspects of evaluating opportunities at this point in the market cycle is the tendency of the market to be rather binary in its assessments.

As the first quarter closed, equity and bond markets were searching for direction following the losses posted in the back half of the quarter after an exemplary January.

A strong U.S. economy, continued global growth improvement, a concerted effort by global central banks to remain accommodative as long as possible, and a general sense of complacency about valuations in the equity markets provided the backdrop for 2017’s wins.

As January began, it was clear that 2017 was going to be a tough act to follow for investors. It was a year marked by historically low volatility, essentially unchanged Treasury yields, and a straight up trajectory for equity markets, and as such, it seemed unlikely for this Goldilocks scenario to repeat itself again in 2018.