Lack of Earnings of U.S. Companies Scarier Than Washington Grid-Lock
I think U.S. investors believe whatever happens in Congress, there will always be a last minute deal, which is the main reason for the recent major stock market surge on nothing more than hope. The markets, of late, have not been trading on fundamentals; they have been trading on news. This is a dangerous phenomenon, when news is bad; there is no backstop to the market. It causes volatility to surge and institutional confidence to falter. In order to illustrate the overreaction by the media and our elected officials to the recent shutdown shenanigans, I offer the fact that the United States has lived through 17 shutdowns of the federal government since 1976, which is why shutdown number 18 was more like the market that cried wolf.Financial Markets in the U.S. Are Beginning to Feel Like 1999
“Party over, oops out of time?” I wasn’t dreamin’ when I wrote this, but these financial markets in the U.S. are beginning to feel like 1999. Back in the 1980s musician Prince, in all his purple majesty, urged people to party like it was 1999. Strangely when that year came, people did just that, but a year later they got clobbered by a horrific hangover by way of their investment portfolios. Investors need to prepare yet again for those times because these parties weren’t meant to last.The Curse of the Magazine Cover Indicator
It's fitting that last week former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson came out to speak about debt issues during a month when Time published a bull on the cover of its magazine. The bull is a symbol of a strong and positive stock market, but it seems whenever a U.S. company makes the cover of a publication, the company is in trouble and that its run is at an end.Cold Hard Facts About Syria and Investment Portfolios
What does the Syria situation mean to the financial markets and client portfolios? Will actions (or inactions) by the U.S. be a catalyst to send the stock market plummeting? Everyone around the world is watching Syria as well as Washington as it determines what the response will be to the tragic use of chemical weapons. A protracted military engagement would be costly and may impede our economic recovery. Should investors be fearful and watchful of how the U.S. responds? I believe investors need to be concerned and that Syria poses a real threat to investment portfolios. Here are some hard cold facts that you should know as this conflict develops.