Reflecting back on 2011, Lowe Wealth Advisors, and the financial markets in general, started the year with high hopes of a domestic economic recovery. This optimism was quickly replaced with pervasive feelings of doom and gloom throughout most of the year. A multitude of global events overshadowed the positive domestic economic developments including: the Japanese
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While our commentaries are normally edited prior to distribution, Lowe Wealth Advisors felt that providing insight sooner than later was most important. The below commentary is unedited. The downward pressure in the global equity markets of the past few weeks has continued into June. These declines are largely attributable to three factors: News out of China
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In providing this update on the financial markets, Lowe Wealth Advisors is particularly aware of the differences in domestic versus international concerns. Following are our primary global focal points at this time. Europe It is quite apparent that European voters are sending a message of their intent to replace pro-austerity administrations with those who favor softer
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On Monday, April 9, 2012, the global equity markets responded to last week’s lackluster U.S. employment report by selling off shares with decidedly downward pressure. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Sector (a sector for which Lowe Wealth Advisors has sought to minimize exposure in many of our managed allocations) led the markets lower.
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Is The Market Entering a Bottoming Process? According to the Wall Street Journal economic data released this morning showed that retail sales rose by 0.5% in July. This is a positive development and could provide evidence that consumers are not pulling back on their spending as much as anticipated. “But that was for July,” you
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Debt Ceiling Focus Investors appear to be factoring in a credit downgrade of the United States Debt and are asking, “What might be the economic impact of such a downgrade?” Certainly, any downgrade would cause the United States to have to pay higher rates to investors in order to compensate them for a higher “risk
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The stock market continues to be controlled by events in Europe. While better than expected economic news was released today for the U.S. in the form of increased orders for durable goods (refrigerators, cars, airplanes, mobile phones etc.), it was not enough to counter growing concerns surrounding the European debt crisis. The increase in durable
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The stock market activity of the past 6 weeks has continued the recent trend of volatility and dramatic swings from positive to negative. According to the Wall Street Journal, the VIX, a measure of volatility and fear in the stock market, reached a three-month high. In this update, we will share our thoughts about the
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Bending Not Breaking In our 2011 Lowe Wealth Advisors Outlook report, we projected that the first half of 2011 would have the potential for continued economic recovery and growth. We felt that the second half of the year could’ under certain circumstances, enjoy ongoing potential growth, but that various global and domestic pressures could manifest in
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Are Red Flags Emerging? A growing number of financial analysts seem to be offering cautionary signals based upon the perception of a slowing economic recovery, the end of the Federal Stimulus (QE2), the debt ceiling and overall global instability. Add to that the fears of inflation, rising interest rates and a persistently weak housing market
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