Good morning.

Most investors are mimicking the words of famed economist, Alfred E. Neuman, and asking themselves: “What, me worry?” as the S&P winning streak has reached 4 consecutive days of gains (and has been positive 8 of the 11 trading days this month).

What is most interesting is market optimism that flies in the face of declining confidence (as far as consumers are concerned) as University of Michigan reports the year-ahead inflation view is the highest since 1981 … the end of the Jimmy Carter era … and consumer views of their own personal financial situation is the worst in over 15 years.

Still … Atlanta GDPNow … predicts a boost in Q2 (second quarter) GDP and is being classified by Daily Shot as “robust growth!”

Right now, markets are flat (an economic term) and it appears to be a coin flip as to whether or not the S&P streak will hit a 5th day.

I don’t know about you, but the news out of Denver … where yet another system outage resulted in pilots flying blind … I find terrifying … as Denver 7 News claims 20 pilots were unable to contact air traffic control with NPR reporting an outage that lasted for around 2 minutes.

This problem (air traffic control) is extremely serious and if there is a major incident as a result … well … we are talking about possibly 2 planes … or more … with a too-horrible-to-consider loss of life.  And in a show of … I don’t know how to describe it … something … the NYPost reports the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy … a day after telling the public that flying into Newark Airport is perfectly safe … had his wife change her flight from Newark to LaGuardia and when asked if it was due to security, rather than scheduling, told Sirius XM that the thought it was for safety said that was “only partially true.” Reassuring.

People knowing my propensity for being cheap might well understand my focus on the last item included below, where your property taxes can be challenged.

It seems, according to sources cited in the article, 40% of homeowners could potentially benefit by appealing … with a median saving of $539/year. Since future payments are based on the present, any success could amount to years of savings.

So, it might be beneficial to put your Netflix movie on pause, take a few minutes and follow the steps outlined in the article.

The move could pay off quite well.

It just makes cents.

Have a great day,

Joseph G. Witthohn, CFA

Have any questions? Please contact info@teamemerald.com

A Look At The News | May 16, 2025 As of 10:59 AM today: Consumer Confidence numbers for May, released this morning, are showing an increasing level of discomfort and worry among consumers (TradingEconomics) https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/consumer-confidence   There is also growing concern over our nation’s skies … as another major outage at a major airport is alarming (TheSun) https://www.the-sun.com/news/14244929/second-major-airport-outage-pilots-air-traffic-control-land/   … but some looking to take a train instead of flying in the Northeast might need to review their plans … as a strike might affect travel plans of over a quarter million commuters (CNBC) https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/16/new-jersey-transit-engineers-trainmen-strike-stranding-potentially-350000-commuters.html   A new report of the world’s happiest cities is out … and once again Copenhagen (a favorite of mine) is at the top of the list. To my Danish friends, “hav en god dag” (BBC) https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250515-the-worlds-five-happiest-cities-for-2025   Many sat in painful stat classes thinking it was useless punishment … well, those interested in machine learning may be glad they paid attention …as it is useful, after all (TowardsDataScience) https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-learn-the-math-needed-for-machine-learning/   If you always look for ways to save money … and have a few minutes … it might be wise to review your property taxes and appeal if it they seem a bit (or more) too high (CNBC) https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/16/how-to-appeal-your-homes-property-taxes.html The statements above are supplied for educational purposes only. The statements depict the viewpoints and opinion of the author and are not necessarily the views of Emerald Asset Management or its affiliates. The information described herein is taken from sources which are believed to be reliable, but the accuracy and completeness of such information is not guaranteed by us. Emerald Asset Management PA, LLC | 717-556-8900 | 3175 Oregon Pike, Leola, PA 17540 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list. ———————————————————————————- The statements above are supplied for educational purposes only. The statements depict the viewpoints and opinion of the author and are not necessarily the views of Emerald Asset Management or its affiliates. The information described herein is taken from sources which are believed to be reliable, but the accuracy and completeness of such information is not guaranteed by us.