To the surprise of most, equity markets ignored the many geopolitical concerns and headed full steam toward new all-time highs to close 2023. On the back of seemingly unrestrained U.S. Government spending that approached the peak of the Covid pandemic, the U.S. bucked all recession fears and posted solid quarterly and annual gains. In addition, inflation has continued to cool, although still considerably higher than a few years ago. Markets are telling us that the Fed is done raising rates and are beginning to pivot toward rate cuts in the not too distant future. We will be looking for Fed guidance in January as to the timing and magnitude of the cuts, as they evolve throughout the year. Odds are, if rate cuts begin and additional market accommodations are put back in place, a resurgence of inflation could occur. Unfortunately, we feel that we will be living in an inflationary environment until the U.S. debt issues are resolved. One key questions that we will be addressing this year is whether we have reached the point to extend duration and begin to buy longer maturity bonds before money market rates fall. As of the start of 2024, the lure of over 5% yield on money market is still an issue for stocks continuing to grow, all while the yield curve remains inverted, causing many to believe that recession is still a strong likelihood. While that possibility looms, we look to curtail any risky asset purchases, instead focusing on quality equities with strong balance sheets, established businesses and good growth trajectories. Furthermore, we look to put new investment assets to work in areas that have remained out of favor in 2023 with the hopes that they may have a sort of reversion to the mean and provide opportunity: value relative to growth, small caps relative to large caps, to mention a few.