4th Quarter 2010 Conventional market forecasts were wrong for the second year in a row. The widely predicted and feared “new normal” of lower than historical returns was nowhere to be seen. Fear encouraged by media hype and many academics, strategists, pundits, and political analysts, led many investors to flee diversified equities and balanced funds and pour into bonds a ...
Market Perspectives
Q3 2010: "The Stealth Economy"
3rd Quarter 2010 Market Review Performance for the month, quarter and year confounded many forecasters. While fears of the sovereign debt crisis, secular bear markets, high unemployment, and a double-dip recession spooked and whipsawed undiversified investors, the market climbed a wall of worry. September posted some of the best monthly performance for equities in over s ...
Q2 2010: "Austerity or Growth?"
2nd Quarter 2010 It is important to understand that Germany’s focus on fiscal austerity has a dimension very different from the U.S. Deficit reduction is often rhetoric that proxies for a toxic political agenda on entitlement reform. Unlike in the U.S., labor contracts in the euro zone often guarantee life employment. The result in many European economies is distorted labor ...
Q1 2010: "Inflection Points"
1st Quarter 2010 Market Review The quarter’s major stories were the positive performances of U.S. equities, the dollar, and many Asian markets, as well as climactic resolution of health care reform legislation and its implications for domestic economic management. The Dow rose 4%, the S&P 500 5%, and the NASDAQ 6%. The small cap Russell 2000 gained 9%. The quarter’ ...