UC Irvine Professor Christopher Schwarz, Ph.D. and First American Trust President and CIO, Jerry Braakman discuss a wide range of topics regarding the factors that are shaping our financial world today. Some of the topics include: Read More›

“As we continue to isolate Russia because of their actions, there will be some turmoil in the markets,” said President and Chief Investment Officer, Jerry Braakman. The increasing tensions over the invasion of Ukraine is influencing the economy in many ways including increasing oil prices, multiple countries severing ties with some Russian banks ... Read More›

“We had an incredible 2021 when we look at U.S. domestic equity market returns, and as we head into the first part of the year it has not been as fun or exciting,” stated Jerry Braakman. “We'll talk through that and explain what is going on, why the market is reacting and how to prepare for that as well.” Jerry Braakman, President and Chief ... Read More›

Equity markets rounded out a strong 2021 with an impressive fourth-quarter move. All three major market indices had gains of at least 8%, led by the S&P 500. The market move was even more impressive considering the environment. The fourth quarter started and ended with COVID Delta and Omicron variant infections, respectively. The market took ... Read More›

The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates even more throughout 2022 and consumer stocks are showing disappointing results. As the stock market declined Friday afternoon, “all risk premium assets—crypto, high leverage, growth names—are being impacted, and what’s working right now is the opposite of that, quality stocks,” stated Jerry ... Read More›

Jerry Braakman, Chief Investment Officer and President, stated “what we’ve seen in the past when rates move up either through Fed rate-hike expectations being pulled forward or the 10-year moving up, it seems that tech and some of the growth models get hit more on the valuation side.” In 2022, as the U.S. Federal Reserve is preparing to adjust ... Read More›

Jerry Braakman, Chief Investment Officer, stated “AT&T looked like their strategy was struggling, so we decided not to continue to ride something down.” First American Trust held AT&T shares for many years but sold them over a year ago in December 2020. Currently, there is a lot of uncertainty about AT&T, especially with their May 2020 ... Read More›

“The nieces and nephews are talking about it, the aunts and uncles are trying to figure out what it’s about,” said Jerry Braakman. Read More›

“Looking at the market today, obviously things that are sensitive to rates” are moving, says Jerry Braakman, Chief Investment Officer. “Tech is showing a little bit of weakness, financials are showing strength. That’s reflective of that move in the yield curve.” Read More›

"The market is forward looking and as we are getting through this last Covid variant bubble in the economy, we'll start seeing more and more improvement. The market is liking that, the companies are liking that. Almost all earning sectors have surprised the expectations of analysts with an overall earnings growth," says Jerry Braakman. Read More›

“So when you look at what's happening currently, we're starting to, definitely from a global perspective, rolling off a COVID curve, we've got rates going up and we've got reopening and economically sensitive or cyclical stocks taking the lead again," stated Jerry Braakman, Chief Investment Officer. Read More›

“China is still a huge demand-driver for basic commodities because they’re doing all the manufacturing for us,” says Jerry Braakman, Chief Investment Officer for First American Trust. Read more about Jerry's thoughts regarding the Evergrande debt crisis and why it makes sense that commodities would decline in this article by Bloomberg. Read More›