The Fed dropped interest rates a quarter point in September and again in October by another quarter point, which put the rate between 3.75 and 4%. As usual, Fed Chair Powell’s verbiage has been quietly cautious, in contrast to a noisy market. Tariffs continue to be a moving target, and uncertainty in a number of sectors remains. The Board, conscious of voices that speculate on the possibility of a ‘bubble’ fueled by excitement over AI (which in some sectors, such as the medical field, has been in effective use for decades), listens, but also carefully weighs the statistical and historical evidence against the current news and market forces in an ongoing effort to produce return without taking on an imprudent amount of risk. The numbers tell the tale. For the third quarter, the EEF returned 5.90% as compared to the benchmark’s 5.84%. The Easton Episcopal Fund ranks in the 17th percentile in the universe of balanced funds for the third quarter and holds a ranking in the 13th percentile for the past three years.