06 Aug 2010

Posted at 14:58h in The Friday Brief by
The Great Recession, now in its 33rd month, drags on relentlessly and painfully as headlines such as today’s unemployment number perpetuate the gloom. The US economy lost more jobs in July than was expected and the unemployment rate remained fixed at 9.5%. But beneath the din, there are substantial reasons for hope of improvement.

23 Jul 2010

Posted at 15:03h in The Friday Brief by
The combination of strong earnings reports and guidance from giants like Alcoa, Intel, Microsoft, Ford, UPS, 3M along with better-than-expected economic data in Europe cheered equity investors this week. Despite the enactment of sweeping economic reform legislation, potential tax hikes promised by the White House and comments from Fed chief Ben Bernanke that “the economic outlook remains unusually uncertain” the rally continued. 

09 Jul 2010

Posted at 15:19h in The Friday Brief by
Economic data reported during this holiday-shortened week was particularly light; perhaps facilitating the market’s rebound of 4.5%. Global markets rebounded as well as investors realized the world’s economy was not cliff-bound. Europe’s credit implosion has dampened growth, but evidence so far indicates it will not stall the recovery.

02 Jul 2010

Posted at 15:39h in The Friday Brief by
Paul Krugman in a column in Monday’s New York Times shook up the financial press and investors alike with his claims that “The Third Depression” may be upon us because of the “triumph of orthodoxy” evidenced in the G20’s endorsement of deficit reduction. Krugman a liberal economist and staunch Keynesian believes that government stimulus is the only way to create jobs, and that belt-tightening at this time would be disastrous. Unfortunately, the bond and stock markets seem reflect a similar fear at present with the benchmark 10-year Treasury at just over 3%, a level not seen since April 27, 2009, and the S&P 500 Index sliding to a nine-month low yesterday.