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401(k)s might be hurt short-term by the economy’s overall good news. Here’s why.Stan Choe | APon March 17, 2021 at 9:45 pm

Pedestrians pass the New York Stock Exchange. A huge shift is underway in the stock market that might roil your 401(k) in the short term but that many professional investors see leading to long-lasting gains.
Pedestrians pass the New York Stock Exchange. A huge shift is underway in the stock market that might roil your 401(k) in the short term but that many professional investors see leading to long-lasting gains. | John Minchillo / AP

All of the churning going on has a big impact because, more than ever, 401(k) accounts are tied to the performance of the S&P 500 and other stock indexes.

A huge shift is underway in the stock market that might roil your 401(k) in the short term but that many professional investors see leading to long-lasting gains.

A surge of optimism that the coronavirus pandemic is on the way out has investors looking to revamp where to put their money. As a result, most stock prices are rising, with the biggest gains coming from companies that would benefit most from a healthier economy, such as airlines and banks, which got pounded by the market for much of the pandemic.

At the same time, those hopes are prompting a rise in bond yields. And that’ sending a group of tech stocks back to earth after they carried the market for much of the pandemic. When bonds pay more in interest, investors are less willing to pay as high prices for stocks viewed as the most expensive or to wait as long for their big growth forecasts to come to fruition.

Because of how stock indexes are calculated, any weakness in the biggest stocks can mask strength sweeping across the rest of the market. It’s why the S&P 500 isn’t up much so far this year: Energy stocks have soared, and financial stocks also are up. But tech stocks, which account for more than one-quarter of the index’s market value, have risen just a bit.

All of that churning below the surface might sound like so much inside baseball. But it has a big impact because, more than ever, 401(k) accounts are tied to the performance of the S&P 500 and other stock indexes. More than half of the dollars in U.S. stock funds are directly mimicking indexes, according to Morningstar, the Chicago financial services firm.

So your 401(k) could fall even if the economy — and most stocks — are rising.

This is the mirror-image of what happened early in the pandemic, when the S&P 500 powered higher as the economy fell into a pit. And professional investors say this rotation among sectors still has room to run.

“It brings me back to business school, where we learned about how all the indices are different,” said Lamar Villere, a portfolio manager for Villere & Co. in New Orleans. “It seems so boring and academic. But there is not one monolithic thing called the stock market. It’s these hugely different areas of the market that are moving differently.”

Investors already have felt the moves in recent weeks, when expectations for coming inflation and economic growth suddenly hit an upswing as COVID-19 vaccines rolled out and Congress neared its $1.9 trillion economic rescue.

The Nasdaq composite tumbled more than 10% from Feb. 12 through March 5, with its many tech stock holdings hurt by the sudden rise in yields. The S&P 500 also fell during that span, by 2.4%, even as more than half of the stocks in the index were rising.

Marathon Oil and other energy producers led the way, with several up more than 20%. Cruise-ship operators also were steaming higher.

If the economy roars back soon, as nearly everyone on Wall Street expects, profits should jump much more for those types of companies than for big tech stocks, which benefited from the stay-at-home economy.

That’s why investors generally should take it in stride if the S&P 500 falls because of drops for a just a few heavyweight companies. Many analysts and professional investors expect the improving economy to boost profits for companies enough to more than make up for stumbles caused by rising rates in the near term. They expect the S&P 500 to rise over the next year.

Since tech stocks’ recent tumble, they’ve come back, as worries about inflation have been tamped down a bit. Even if tech stocks’ shine never fully returns, many continue to produce huge profits — such as Apple and its nearly $29 billion in net income last quarter.

But many professional investors still expect the rotation out of tech stocks into other beaten-down areas of the market to continue a while longer. Tech and high-growth stocks still look much more expensive than the rest of the market, and higher interest rates make that gap appear even more glaring. That could keep the pressure on the S&P 500 and index funds that track it.

High-growth stocks largely had been pulling away from their more cheaply valued value stocks for much of the past 15 years, said David Joy, chief market strategist for Ameriprise. Long term, a reversal could last just as long.

Within such long-term trends, the market can swing back and forth. For this most recent move into value stocks out of high-growth tech stocks, Joy said there’s likely months left to go.

“If I had to guess, it’s halfway to maybe two-thirds done,” he said. “But it’s still the place to be.”

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401(k)s might be hurt short-term by the economy’s overall good news. Here’s why.Stan Choe | APon March 17, 2021 at 9:45 pm Read More »

75-year-old woman dies months after Oakland fireSun-Times Wireon March 17, 2021 at 10:03 pm

A 75-year-old woman died months after a fire that happened Dec. 31, 2020, in Oakland.
A 75-year-old woman died months after a fire that happened Dec. 31, 2020, in Oakland. | Sun-Times file photo

Patricia Panalle was found badly burned about 7:05 a.m. Dec. 31 in her apartment in the 3700 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue, Chicago police said.

A 75-year-old woman died Tuesday after being injured in a fire months earlier in Oakland on the South Side.

Patricia Panalle was found badly burned about 7:05 a.m. Dec. 31 in her apartment in the 3700 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue, Chicago police said.

She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, and died there about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

An autopsy ruled her dead an accident, saying she died of complications from burn injuries, according to the medical examiner’s office.

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75-year-old woman dies months after Oakland fireSun-Times Wireon March 17, 2021 at 10:03 pm Read More »

Felicia P. Fields to receive Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in theaterCatey Sullivan – For the Sun-Timeson March 17, 2021 at 10:30 pm

Veteran actress Felicia P. Fields is the 2021 recipient of the Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago.
Veteran actress Felicia P. Fields is the 2021 recipient of the Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago. | Provided

The Tony Award-nominated actress will be presented with the honor as part of Porchlight Music Theatre’s annual Chicago Sings fund-raising concert.

Long before her thundering alto and radiant stage presence made her a Tony Award nominee and one of Chicago’s brightest musical theater stars, Felicia P. Fields was an investigator for the Chicago Park District. It wasn’t as cloak-and-dagger as it sounds.

“Me and this guy named Percy were in internal investigations. We’d find people sleeping on the clock or whatever. That sort of thing,” she said. “We were hated. But we were both aspiring actors, and the schedule was just enough so that we were able to do the thing we really wanted to do,” she said.

More than three decades since she left the park district’s employ, Fields has done the thing she really wanted, playing leading ladies from August Wilson’s Ma Rainey to Thornton Wilder’s Dolly Levi. Over the course of her career, she’s collected a Clarence Derwent Award, multiple Black Theatre Alliance and Joseph Jefferson awards, and years of critical accolades from across the country.

On March 20, Fields will pick up yet another trophy, Porchlight Music Theatre’s annual Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago. Fields — who earned a 2006 Tony nomination for creating the role of “Sofia” in the musical adaptation of “The Color Purple” — says she finds inspiration in the award named for a peer she valued in life. Adkins died of colon cancer in 2010, after almost 20 years as one of Chicago’s best song-and-dance men.

“This award, it’s been the lift that I needed at this particular time,” Fields said. “It’s God saying, ‘hey, maybe we can keep this party going,’ ” she said.

The award presentation is part of Porchlight’s annual Chicago Sings fund-raising concert, this year themed to feature rock and roll’s influence on Broadway. The concert — featuring numbers from the 2020 Broadway musical “Jagged Little Pill” among others — will be available via stream through April 18.

“For me, this past year has been a time of reflection, of recognizing your journey,” Fields continued. “I think of how hard this business is and how you have so many lows and so many highs and how your talent alone is a small part of what happens; it might get you somewhere, but it won’t always help you stay there. You have to treat people with respect, especially yourself. “

The Porchlight award will be presented by Gary Griffin, who won it last year and who directed Fields in “The Color Purple.” Fields credits Griffin with more than helping her raise her national profile. As the artistic director of the Drury Lane Theatre in the 1990s, Griffin was the first to hire her to work at the west-suburban venue, Fields said.

“I believe that the steps of a righteous man are ordered by God and I believe I didn’t meet Gary Griffin by chance but by design,” Fields said. “He took a chance on me in a place that wasn’t necessarily conducive to gender or racial diversity. I found myself working harder with Gary because he saw something in me that I didn’t always see in myself,” Fields said.

Griffin’s take: “All I did was put her in front of people. She did all the rest.”

Fields recalled her earliest encouragement coming from three invaluable sources: The Englewood Antioch Baptist Church where she sang, powerhouse singer/actor E. Faye Butler, and composer Rufus Hill.

Sofia (Felicia P. Fields, left) has some strong words for Squeak (Stephanie St. James, right) in this scene from the first national touring production of “The Color Purple.”
Paul Kolnik
Sofia (Felicia P. Fields, left) has some strong words for Squeak (Stephanie St. James, right) in this scene from the first national touring production of “The Color Purple.”

“I happened to be singing in church the day Julie Shannon came to look for vocalists to record a demo for her new musical, ‘Stones,’” Fields said, adding that her pastor had been friends with Shannon’s husband. After the service, Shannon asked Fields to come record those demos, and then cast her in the Bailiwick Theatre’s production of “Stones.” That show also featured Butler and Hill, both of whom subsequently told Fields to audition at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. Fields was cast as Glinda and Auntie Em in that 1987 Lincolnshire staging, opposite Butler’s Addaperle/Evillene.

“I had just seen E. Faye in ‘A My Name is Alice’ at the old Ivanhoe,” Fields recalled, “And now we’re co-starring in the same show. It just goes to show you never know who you’re going to be working with next,” she said.

Fields has covered vast ground since that inaugural role, steadily working at the city’s largest houses including the Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Northlight and Writers theaters among them. The Broadway run and the glitz of Tony season were fun, Fields said, but she never considered leaving her home base of Chicago.

As for the award she is receiving, Fields remembers Guy Adkins as a colleague with an impish wit and a remarkable talent, and said she treasures being the recipient of his namesake honor.

“He was so mischievous. You never saw him when he wasn’t smiling or joking around. I didn’t know Clarence Derwent or Antionette Perry. I [didn’t] know Joseph Jefferson. But I did know Guy Adkins, and I know what it’s like to be acknowledged by your peers like this. It feels good,” she said.

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Felicia P. Fields to receive Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in theaterCatey Sullivan – For the Sun-Timeson March 17, 2021 at 10:30 pm Read More »

Trinity Irish Dancers perform at Swedish Covenant HospitalPat Nabongon March 17, 2021 at 10:35 pm

Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

About 20 dancers performed outside Swedish Covenant Hospital in Ravenswood Wednesday. Patients watched from their windows, doctors and nurses took videos from the street, and health care workers’ kids leaped to the music.

When Olivia Dela Cruz arrived at Swedish Covenant Hospital to visit her mother, she didn’t expect to see dozens of Irish dancers hopping and prancing outside.

“This is like such a wonderful just break from the stress of worrying about your parent,” said Dela Cruz, who took videos of the performance to show her mom.

The dancers were from the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance, and about 20 of them performed outside Swedish Covenant Hospital in Ravenswood on St. Patrick’s Day. Patients watched from their hospital windows, doctors and nurses took videos from the street, and kids of health care workers jumped to the music.

Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day 2021 to show appreciation for health care workers.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital Wednesday. On St. Patrick’s Day, they typically would perform indoors, but due to the pandemic, adjustments had to be made.

“We are really trying to bring, you know, the joy and the power of Irish dance to our health care workers,” said Shannan Bunting, parent of one of the dancers. “This is really our opportunity to give back.”

“This has been a, you know, a remarkably challenging year for health care and people in the community have found a few ways to try and kind of bring a little sunshine and this is just such a perfect example of that,” said Bruce McNutty, the vice president and chief medical officer of Swedish Covenant Hospital.

Given Chicago’s large Irish American population, the area, not surprisingly, has many Irish dance schools. Around St. Patrick’s Day, dancers from those schools typically perform at restaurants, pubs, church halls, retirement communities, hospitals and at other holiday gatherings throughout the region.

This year, of course, is different. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trinity, like the others, modified its program, Bunting said.

“It’s really cool that we get to dance during a pandemic too,” said Reilly Leahy, who’s performed for almost 10 years. “We still have the opportunity to, like, make people happy and it’s my senior year, so I’m really glad that I get to do it my last year and don’t get to miss out on all these opportunities.”

Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital Wednesday. “People in the community have found a few ways to try and kind of bring a little sunshine and this is just such a perfect example of that,” said Bruce McNutty, the vice president and chief medical officer of Swedish Covenant Hospital.
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers. Later in the day, they also visited Rush University Medical Center.
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital Wednesday. They usually do lots of indoor shows around St. Patrick’s Day. And even though they had to adjust due to the coronavirus, dancer Reilly Leahy said it was “really cool that we get to dance … We still have the opportunity to, like, make people happy.”
Swedish Covenant Hospital doctors and nurses watch Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Swedish Covenant Hospital doctors and nurses watch Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day.
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on Wednesday. The hard shoes — sometimes called “heavies” — are the ones that make all the noise and are worn for dances such as the hornpipe. Soft leather shoes, more like ballet slippers, are worn for other dances, such as the slip jig.
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital Wednesday.
Children of health care workers and staff watch Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Children of health care workers and staff watch Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day.
Swedish Covenant Hospital staff and patients watch Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Swedish Covenant Hospital staff and patients watch Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside the hospital on St. Patrick’s Day.
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Swedish Covenant Hospital Bruce McNulty watches Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside the hospital in Ravenswood on St. Patrick’s Day.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Swedish Covenant Hospital Bruce McNulty watches Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside the hospital in Ravenswood on St. Patrick’s Day.
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Trinity Irish Dancers perform outside Swedish Covenant Hospital on St. Patrick’s Day to show appreciation for health care workers.

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Trinity Irish Dancers perform at Swedish Covenant HospitalPat Nabongon March 17, 2021 at 10:35 pm Read More »

Wednesday’s high school basketball scoreson March 17, 2021 at 9:26 pm

Please send scores and corrections to [email protected]

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

PUBLIC LEAGUE RED WEST-NORTH

Clark at Lincoln Park, 5:00

Farragut at Westinghouse, 5:00

Lane at Young, 7:00

Marshall at Orr, 5:00

North Lawndale at Schurz, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-NORTH

Prosser at Sullivan, 5:00

Senn at Lake View, 5:00

Taft at Foreman, 5:00

Uplift at Northside, 5:00

Von Steuben at Mather, 6:30

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-WEST

Crane at Clemente, 5:00

Raby at Jones, 5:00

Perspectives-MSA at Collins, 7:00

Wells at Payton, 7:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-NORTH

DuSable at Amundsen, 5:00

Rickover at Chicago Academy, 5:00

Steinmetz at North Grand, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-WEST

Chicago Tech at Little Village, 5:00

Juarez at Douglass, 5:00

NON CONFERENCE

Agricultural Science at Lindblom, 6:30

Comer at Catalyst-Maria, 5:00

Perspectives-Lead at Bowen, 5:00

NOBLE LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

DRW vs. Rowe-Clark, 7:00

Muchin vs. Noble Academy, 7:00

Noble Street at ITW-Speer, 5:00

Hansberry vs. Rauner, at Pritzker, 7:00

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Chicago Bears Rumors: Gardner Minshew a possibilityon March 17, 2021 at 9:42 pm

Dec 20, 2020; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II (15) throws before the game against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 20, 2020; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II (15) throws before the game against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

On the same day the Chicago Bears announced a one-year, $10 million contact with free agent quarterback Andy Dalton, the team has been linked to yet another quarterback.

The quarterback being Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew. Minshew figures to be on the trade block this off-season considering the likelihood that the Jaguars will be selecting Trevor Lawrence with the first overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Minshew, despite being selected in the 6th round of the 2019 NFL Draft, has proven that he could be quality starting quarterback during his first two seasons in the NFL. Between 2019 and 2020, Minshew has posted 93.1 passer rating while throwing for 37 touchdowns and 5,530 passing yards against 11 interceptions.

Despite Minshew’s success, Lawrence is a once in a generation type of quarterback and that would be the reason why the Jaguars would entertain a trade.

If Minshew is traded, one NFL pundit believes it would not be a surprise if the Bears were the team that acquired the former Washington State quarterback.

Acquiring Minshew makes no sense for the Bears.

More from Chicago Bears

Based on the quarterback play that the Bears witnessed from Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles in 2020, it is clear that Minshew is an instant upgrade. The issue is that the Bears have already signed Dalton. Acquiring Minshew would only signal that Bears’ general manager Ryan Pace knew that Dalton was not the answer to the Bears’ quarterback problem. If Pace knew that about Dalton, then why sign him to a $10 million contract?

There has been a dangerous trend when it comes to Pace and the quarterback position. Pace’s solution to the free agent signing bust of Mike Glennon was to draft Mitchell Trubisky a month later. Pace’s solution to the mistake of drafting Trubisky was to trade for Nick Foles last season. Pace’s solution to the mistake of trading for Foles was to sign Dalton to a $10 million contract after he only made $3 million last year.

Pace panics when it comes to the quarterback position. However, the ineptitude of Pace’s bosses is the reason why the general manager is allowed to make the same mistake over and over again. Pace has already given away the Bears’ draft capital as if he was a high-school teen using his dad’s credit card for OnlyFans subscriptions.

Next: Bears still have options at the quarterback position

Pace has no clear answer at the quarterback position. That is why he is already panicking to fix his latest blunder as Chicago Bears’ general manager even though the move was officially announced today.

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Chicago Bears Rumors: Gardner Minshew a possibilityon March 17, 2021 at 9:42 pm Read More »