Market Update | April 2026

Get a quick update on what's happening in today's fast-changing financial markets with WHZ Senior Managing Partner & Chief Strategist, James Zahansky, AWMA®.

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Transcript

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Welcome to the monthly market update on You and Your Money. I'm Jim Zahansky, Senior Managing Partner and Chief Strategist at WHZ Strategic Wealth Advisors. Give us a quick update on what's happening in the markets right now. There's a little bit of interesting dynamics. What's happening? Yeah, I mean, it just reminds all the listeners and sort of all of our clients, right? The thesis you have going into any given year can change. Last year, it was tariffs, you know, and we had a 10% drop in the month of, you know, March last year with tariffs, and those have sort of worked their way into the system. This year, we came into the year thinking, okay, we're gonna have a lowering interest rate cycle. We're going to have to watch jobs due to AI. And, you know, generally speaking, we are going to have a slow growth year. We intervene with that, a conflict and a war in Iran and some of the parts of the Middle East, which is taking longer to work through. And it is causing some worry in the markets, largely and all based on oil pricing and what oil and gas pricing can do to inflation. So in simple terms, it can reverse the monetary policy that the Federal Reserve is trying to execute. Markets like lower interest rates and predictable interest rates, as we know. They like predictability in general, and this is causing and disrupting that, causing significant volatility. So every time we're hearing the war is gonna end, the markets go up,'cause oil can get through and pricing can come down, and we go back to our normal thesis. But until that happens, we remain volatile, which for our clients, you know, we're positioning with a diversified portfolio portfolio based to your risk levels and aligned to your financial plan. And we've made some changes for sure in that this year. And those are the types of things when these events happen, you need to have happen when you're watching your portfolio as aligned to your goal. So, that's what's going on in the market. For more information regarding wealth management and customized financial planning with WHZ Strategic Wealth Advisors, please visit whz wealth.com whz strategic wealth Advisors offer securities and advisory services through Commonwealth Financial Network Member FINRA sipc, a registered investment advisor Fixed insurance products and services offered through CES Insurance Agency. They practice at 697 Pomfret Street Pomfret Center Center, CT 06259 and 392AMerrow Road, Toland, CT 06084. They can be reached at 860-928-2341. WHZ Strategic Wealth Advisors do not provide legal or tax advice. The tenured financial services team strives to support clients in achieving their financial life goals while providing absolute confidence and unwavering partnership for life.