By the time he turned five, Harvey “Little Man” Sutton of Lynchburg, Virginia, had spent a remarkable 11% of his life on the Appalachian Trail, hiking more than 2,190 miles through 14 states in 209 days, starting with his first steps up on Georgia’s Springer Mountain in January of 2021, and ending with the final celebratory steps in August atop Mount Katahdin. To maintain or hike is just one of the many questions also facing the Federal Open Market Committee, a very special subgroup of U.S. central bank whose statements and actions drive the global markets.

There is a drumbeat emanating from family kitchens and elementary school classrooms, corner restaurants and city stadiums, office buildings and grocery stores, suburban gyms and resort hotels, and it is growing louder. And, those drumbeats have reached the financial markets. Starting two years ago, the financial markets have been percussed, but have since been cymbals of the central banks and the incongruous but profitable risk-on behavior they have fostered.

In an all too familiar scenario for writers, one persistent author suffered through 30 rejection slips before his book was finally accepted for publication. Canadian sociologist Laurence Peter had asked aloud: “Why do things always go wrong?”

The clock was built in 1947 by distinguished American engineers and scientists and it has been ticking away for 75 years now. For the past two years it has been stuck at 100 seconds, an urgent wake-up call meant to tell us how close we may be to destroying our own world.

With seven percent annualized inflation and supply chain woes carrying over from 2021, with our central bank clearly telegraphing the reversal of its decade-long loss insulation efforts, with uncertainty over the next path of a pandemic amongst other woes, it is no wonder that most financial markets are upside down this month.

108 years ago, the Senate compromised with the House and the Federal Reserve Act was signed into law on December 23, 1913. At present, the Banking Committee held re-nomination hearings for Jerome Powell, the seventeenth Fed chairman.

A new year began on Saturday and residents on part of the island nation of Kiribati in the Central Pacific were among the first to ring it in and flip the calendar page from 2021 to 2022. Then, hour by hour, the countdowns moves across the world. Finally, 25 hours after it began, 2022 rolled through the last spot on Earth to officially greet the new year.

In Year Two of this pandemic, while battling the Delta and Omicron variants, supply and labor shortages, multi decade-high inflation, and uncertainties on so many fronts, a number of organizations have nevertheless managed to celebrate significant milestones. Congratulations to one and all for enduring, thriving, and inspiring millions around the world through service, education and entertainment, in both good and trying times.

In the course of the day, thousands of numbers fly through our brains, some random, others not to be forgotten. It is hard to imagine life without numbers but there are reportedly some cultures that lack words for all but the one to three. For those of us who spend most of our day immersed in analyzing financial data, we cannot help but wonder how folks manage to get along without being able to precisely identify and verbalize quantities. How do they build, borrow, grow? Can they live longer and happier if the count is limited to “one”, “two”, and “many”?

A lot has been written about the pandemic, this hundred-year global plague. We know there is still a lot more ink to flow. No matter our roles, we have all become voracious readers of studies and speculations that have kept us swinging between the states of hope and heartbreak, confused by directives, irritated by extreme claims and flat assurances, tired of the topic but anxious to have all the latest news as soon as it breaks via our phones, TVs, watches, radios, or paperboys.

The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs act was signed into law on Monday by President Biden, who appointed former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu as his senior advisor responsible for coordinating its implementation.

Exactly as expected, the central bank announced plans to reduce its monthly bond purchases by $15 billion in November and December and, economic conditions permitting, continue to taper through June of 2022 when net new purchases of government and mortgage-backed bonds would cease.

November is Long Term Care Awareness Month, and this year marks the 20th anniversary of the annual designation. As one of the top capital funding sources for continuing care retirement communities and other senior living facilities, HJ Sims understands that 70% of men and women over the age of 65 will have need for some type of long-term care in the coming years.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor is one of the most famous pieces of Baroque organ music ever written and its opening notes still send chills up the spines of Halloween party-goers. At this writing, however, no traders are humming these unforgettably eerie notes as we head into month-end and All Hallows’ Eve.

Third quarter corporate earnings reporting season began in earnest last week and stock prices rose as investor alarm over rising inflation, supply disruptions, and waning consumer sentiment notched down a bit with strong bottom line results and positive forward guidance.

In the animal kingdom, owls have the highest degree of head rotation. We humans cannot attempt such flexible maneuvers, but as investors, as advisors, as managers, as parents and caregivers, we would sure love to have a 360-degree view of the world at all times, to be able to see whatever is coming from any direction so as to avoid trouble as well as pounce on opportunity.

Here we are in the final quarter of the year trying to figure out what we may need to do to help and protect our portfolios, investment goals, families and businesses, between now and year-end. There is a big “Wall of Worry” and less than 60 trading days left, some of which could be very volatile.