The Lowry Letter® - 6/21/2025

We are nearly halfway through 2025. We have seen a market correction and a market recovery, as well as major regional conflicts and significant policy uncertainty. For long-term investors, this is ultimately just noise. More on this in “Ask the Joes®.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Many of us will be traveling this summer. Here are some ways to deal with travel delays, which seem unavoidable these days.

• This is a fun poem by Dana Gioia, a tribute to classic Film Noir.

• The Porsche Design Tower in Miami has elevators allowing every unit owner to park their vehicle INSIDE their condo. The elevator experience is shown here.

• During a rainy camping trip last week, we benefitted from a prepared friend setting up a nice tarp shelter over our cooking area. This little REI video teaches you how to set one up.

• Despite its name, the S&P 500 index includes 505 stocks from 500 companies, due to some companies issuing multiple classes of shares.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last week, we briefly discussed the Israel-Iran conflict and its uncertain implication for global markets. This article provides some historical context, looking at 25 past geopolitical shocks and their impact on markets.

The research shows that most of the time, market declines associated with these events are short and usually not severe. It reinforces our belief that investment decisions should not be made based on these events alone.

Commonwealth’s Rob Swanke looks at the first half of the year and some plausible scenarios for the market through year-end.