Bucci Financial Services

08/18/2026

We just got back from a great trip out to San Diego, California for our annual LPL Focus Conference! It was packed with great information, new innovations from LPL for advisors and clients, good company and even a little entertainment from Carrie Underwood!

07/06/2026

Why are gas prices still so high? This quick read from First Trust explains.

04/24/2026

When markets dip, discipline matters.

04/17/2026

Most of the headlines in Q1 of 2026 have been dominated by the Iran War and its impact on global markets and oil prices. However, returns on the indexes were relatively flat for the year through February, before the conflict. We expected a slowdown in growth this year and Iran just happened to be the catalyst. It’s important to not forget that we are coming off of 3 years of back-to-back double digit returns on the S&P 500: 2025 – 16.4%, 2024 – 23.3%, 2023 – 24.2%.

That cannot go on forever. It’s not sustainable. If Iran didn’t slow down the markets, it would have been something else. A correction is warranted in the markets and is even healthy. Markets are still in great shape. In Q1, we saw the Dow Jones cross 50,000. This is doubled from 25,000 in 2018.

Investors were relatively unphased in the first week of the Iran conflict because they viewed it as a potentially short-lived military operation - similar to the capture of Venezuelan President Maduro. However, as we saw oil prices move, investors were unsure of how severe the impact may have been. The US has said that they do not intend to be in this war for very long which is sparing some of the downside. My prediction is that as soon as a sustainable peace deal is reached, oil prices will drop very quickly and markets will begin a strong recovery.

Logan

04/05/2026

Happy Easter! May the joy of the Resurrection be with all of our clients and friends today and every day.

03/14/2026

We were happy to attend the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Region 9 Band Festival hosted by MMI Preparatory School and the Hazleton Area School District. The students put on a wonderful concert last night. Bucci Financial made a donation towards lunch for the students on Friday afternoon. Many thanks to our friend and client, Jennifer Gerhard, Music Director at MMI.

03/05/2026

02/06/2026

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 50,000 for the first time in history this afternoon! For context, it first crossed 25,000 in only 2018. What a time to be an investor!

01/22/2026

It certainly has been an exciting 4th quarter and 2025 as a whole for investors. In the beginning of the year, both investors and the markets were preparing for some volatility and high-single digit returns for the year. And while we did experience the expected volatility in March and April, we saw a third year of consecutive double-digit returns.

One of the major headlines of Q4 was the question of whether we are in the midst of a technology bubble. We are seeing a lot of circular investment in artificial intelligence and the same few mega cap companies investing capital into one another. Is this self-reinforcing an intentional ploy to prop up the industry? We must remember that these companies are very profitable, have extremely strong balance sheets, have a greater demand than supply and in my opinion, most importantly, are building and selling physical infrastructure like chips, electrical components and data centers. I’m not sure the comparisons to the 1990’s dot-com-bubble are fair because those companies were not very profitable and had no physical assets supporting them. Significant upside potential can be missed if investors are not exposed to today’s tech companies. While some caution is warranted, diversification and exposure to other profitable sectors can create a balance that limits risk.

Inflation continued its downward trend but still remained above the Fed’s 2% goal. Hiring slowed marginally but overall unemployment is down. Wage growth remained positive and greater than inflation. And the consumer has remained resilient. What does all of this mean to us? We are going to be okay. Recession talks from early 2025 have quieted, returns have beat most expectations, markets are strong and momentum is set to continue.

I encourage you all to read our End of the Year Letter that should be arriving in your mailboxes shortly. This “State of the Union” style letter will recap the entire year and set the tone for 2026.

01/17/2026

The Year is 2016 - 10 years ago! 🤪 Bob & Dawn just opened their new location on 315 in Pittston. Logan was starting 9th grade.