July 19, 2010 Weekly Commentary

The Markets

What is the most actively traded security on the planet?

The answer is the two-year Treasury note and its current yield is sending us a signal, according to Bloomberg, July 17. Last week, the yield on the two-year note fell for the seventh straight week and touched its lowest level ever. At just under 0.6%, it is now lower than during the peak of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008.

What does this signal?

In short, it suggests the economy is slowing down, inflation is not a threat, deflation is a possibility, and money-market rates will remain historically low, according to BusinessWeek, July 15, Barron’s, July17, and Bloomberg, July 17. Here’s a list of several economic reports released last week that help support this view:

• The consumer price index dropped for the third straight month in June, according to data from the Labor Department (Market Watch, July 16).
• Industrial production rose a modest 0.1% in June after having risen 1.2% in May, according to the Federal Reserve, July 15.
• Another report released by the Federal Reserve, June 22, said, “The economic outlook had softened somewhat and a number of members saw the risks to the outlook as having shifted to the downside.”

While the data above points toward economic softness, second quarter corporate profits are coming in strong. Of the 48 companies in the S&P 500 index that have reported their earnings, 75% have topped analysts’ estimates, including a blow-out quarter from Intel, according to Reuters, July 16.

The tug-of-war between soft economic data and strong corporate profits is helping keep the market stuck in a bouncy trading range.

HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE JOBS?

This question has a double meaning--jobs as in employment and Jobs as in Steve Jobs of Apple.

Chronically high unemployment in the U.S. is having a debilitating effect on our economy. We can point to many causes for this, but one that receives lots of press is the outsourcing of jobs overseas--and that’s where Steve Jobs comes in.

Without getting into a political debate about the pros and cons of free trade, it turns out that in a little recognized fact, Apple is one of the biggest beneficiaries of outsourcing jobs overseas. We can’t get enough iPods, iPhones, iPads, and Macs, but relatively few of the jobs created by our insatiable demand are sprouting on our shores.

According to Apple and BusinessWeek, as of September 26, 2009, Apple had about 37,000 full-time equivalent employees of which about 25,000 were based in the U.S. By contrast, Apple has subcontracted with a Chinese company called Foxconn that employs roughly 250,000 people who are devoted to building Apple products. Doing the math, for every one Apple employee working in the U.S., there are 10 Foxconn employees building Apple products in China. Knowing that costs are much lower in China (and that Apple products are in high demand), is it any surprise that Apple earned $3 billion in profit with a 42% gross margin in the first three months of this year?

Again, this is not meant to start a political debate about free trade or protectionism as there are many facets to this issue. It simply points out the intractable nature of high unemployment in the U.S., particularly in the manufacturing sector. Some people argue that free trade and capitalism are the best ways to grow jobs and profits. Others, notably former Intel chairman and chief executive officer Andrew Grove (Bloomberg, July 1), argue for protectionist measures to rebuild our domestic manufacturing base. Ultimately, America needs to get its people back to work. The Apple example shows just how difficult that may be.

Weekly Focus – Think About It

“I want to put a ding in the universe.”

--Steve Jobs


Best regards,

Kevin Kroskey



* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general.
* The DJ Global ex US is an unmanaged group of non-U.S. securities designed to reflect the performance of the global equity securities that have readily available prices.

* The 10-year Treasury Note represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to the public. Since the U.S. Government is seen as a risk-free borrower, investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for the long-term bond market.
* Gold represents the London afternoon gold price fix as reported by the London Bullion Market Association.
* The DJ Commodity Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.
* The DJ Equity All REIT TR Index measures the total return performance of the equity subcategory of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry as calculated by Dow Jones.
* Yahoo! Finance is the source for any reference to the performance of an index between two specific periods.
* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.
* This newsletter was prepared by PEAK.* Past performance does not guarantee future results.


* You cannot invest directly in an index.
* Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.

July 12, 2010 Weekly Commentary

The Markets

Wall Street investors are sure a fickle crowd these days.

After dropping 16% between April 23 and July 2, the S&P 500 recouped one-third of that loss last week and rose 5.4%, according to Bloomberg, July 10. Stocks rose on news that U.S. retail sales grew at the fastest pace in four years in June and a bullish report from the IMF projected an upwardly revised global economic growth rate of 4.6% in 2010, according to CNBC, July 8. Rising optimism that second quarter earnings reports might be better than expected also supported stock prices last week, according to MarketWatch, July 7.

Although the market jumped dramatically, has much changed in the past week? Maybe, maybe not. Wall Street observers have a tidy tendency to explain every movement in the market with an explanation that seems, on the surface, to be reasonable. Last week’s bullish reports on retail sales, world economic growth, and some earnings pre-announcements all seem like logical explanations for the big rise in the market. However, between April 23 and July 2, when the market dropped 16%, we were reading reports that retail sales were weak, economic growth was slowing, and we might be heading for a double-dip recession. Now, a week later, the economy seems to have turned a corner, right?

In reality, the truth is probably somewhere in between. The economy may not have been as bad as the 16% market swoon suggested and it may not be as good as last week’s 5.4% pop suggests, either. It’s good to stay informed but we have to filter information with a dose of skepticism.

DOES THE LARGE U.S. BUDGET DEFICIT MATTER?
Below is a chart of our annual budget surplus/deficit for the past few years.

Notice how our budget deficit has soared over the past three years as the recession took its toll. Surprisingly, it was just nine years ago that we ran a budget surplus of $128 billion. On a cumulative basis, the national debt is $13.2 trillion, according to the Treasury Department. So, should we be concerned that our annual deficit and national debt are rising dramatically?

Without meaning to be glib, deficits don’t matter until they do. Just ask Greece.

Currently, financial markets are relatively unconcerned about our debt level. Investors’ lack of concern shows up in the fact that interest rates on government bonds are near historic lows and the spread between interest rates on inflation-protected Treasury bonds and regular bonds is a mild 2.3%, according to MSN, July 9. If investors were concerned about our debt level, they’d send interest rates skyrocketing (as happened in Greece) and inflation might rear its head if the government cranked up the printing press to monetize our debt.

Investors are not alarmed at our large debt level because they still have confidence that our country will weather the storm. However, investors could lose confidence if, for example, we experience some new shock or a “failed” Treasury auction. If that happens, confidence could dissipate rather quickly and throw our economy into disarray.

Nobody knows if this will happen or not, but we continue to monitor interest rates and inflation expectations as early indicators to help determine if confidence is slipping.


Best regards,


Kevin Kroskey, CFP(r), MBA




* The DJ Global ex US is an unmanaged group of non-U.S. securities designed to reflect the performance of the global equity securities that have readily available prices.
* The 10-year Treasury Note represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to the public. Since the U.S. Government is seen as a risk-free borrower, investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for the long-term bond market.
* Gold represents the London afternoon gold price fix as reported by the London Bullion Market Association.
* The DJ Commodity Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.
* The DJ Equity All REIT TR Index measures the total return performance of the equity subcategory of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry as calculated by Dow Jones.
* Yahoo! Finance is the source for any reference to the performance of an index between two specific periods.
* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.
* Past performance does not guarantee future results.
* This newsletter was prepared by PEAK.

* You cannot invest directly in an index.
* Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.

July 6, 2010 Weekly Commentary

The Second Quarter in Review

STOCK MARKET RALLY FALTERS ON "MACRO" ISSUES

The stock market rally that began in March 2009 came to an abrupt halt in the second quarter. Despite excellent first quarter corporate earnings in the U.S., investors fretted about larger issues that could overwhelm the economy in the months ahead. These "macro" issues include unsustainable government debt levels in numerous countries, the unwinding of stimulus spending, possible deflation, persistently high unemployment, financial regulation, and a government-orchestrated economic slowdown in China, according to The Wall Street Journal, June 30. These concerns helped send the S&P 500 index to an 11.9% decline in the quarter.

ECONOMY SLOWS DOWN

A variety of economic reports over the past few weeks suggest the economy is slowing down. For example, home sales dropped, consumer confidence slumped, manufacturing growth cooled off, and new claims for unemployment insurance remained high, according to Bloomberg, July 3. However, let's not get too carried away. A slowdown does not necessarily mean we are headed for another recession.

Today's weak economy puts policymakers in a tough spot. Normally, fiscal and monetary stimulus is enough to jumpstart growth. Unfortunately, we've shot those two rockets and we still haven't reached escape velocity. If the economy rolls over from here, the question becomes, "Where do we find a third rocket?" According to Tony Crescenzi, strategist and portfolio manager at Pimco, CNBC.com, June 7, our third rocket might consist of time, devaluations, and debt restructurings. If fired, this third rocket could be painful for many Americans.

INTEREST RATES DIVERGE BASED ON RISK PERCEPTION

As the stock market declined, yields on U.S. government securities declined, too, as investors fled to the perceived safety of our government paper. During the quarter, the yield on the 10-year note declined from 3.8% to 3.0%, according to data from Yahoo! Finance. This decline in yield occurred even though the government issued more than $300 billion in new debt during the quarter, according to The Wall Street Journal, July 1. It was a different story in the corporate bond arena. Yields on investment-grade corporate bonds and high-yield corporate (junk) bonds rose as investors began pricing in added economic risk. In a sign of growing risk aversion, the spread between yields on corporate bonds and government bonds rose significantly, as investors required a higher yield to hold the potentially riskier corporate bonds.

THE DOLLAR REMAINS POPULAR

Some naysayers think the dollar's days are numbered, but that countdown had yet to begin in the second quarter. The dollar index, a measure of the dollar's strength compared to a trade-weighted basket of six other currencies, rose a solid 5.9% in the second quarter, according to MarketWatch, June 30. Two major trends are apparently tugging at the dollar and in any given week, one trend seems to outweigh the other. The euro zone debt crisis helped spark a flight to the U.S. dollar and was a major reason why the dollar jumped sharply in the second quarter. However, toward the end of the quarter, disappointing economic numbers out of the U.S. and new austerity measures in the euro zone led some investors to rethink their dollar-haven strategy.

SUMMARY

The recovery from the recession hit a rough patch in the second quarter as several economic indicators turned soft and the stock market turned south. It's too soon to tell if this is the start of a new leg down or simply a pause that refreshes.

Weekly Focus – Think About It
“Psychology is probably the most important factor in the market--and one that is least understood.”

--David Dreman


Best regards,

Kevin Kroskey



* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general.

* The DJ Global ex US is an unmanaged group of non-U.S. securities designed to reflect the performance of the global equity securities that have readily available prices.
* The 10-year Treasury Note represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to the public. Since the U.S. Government is seen as a risk-free borrower, investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for the long-term bond market.
* Gold represents the London afternoon gold price fix as reported by the London Bullion Market Association.
* The DJ Commodity Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.
* The DJ Equity All REIT TR Index measures the total return performance of the equity subcategory of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry as calculated by Dow Jones.
* This newsletter was prepared by PEAK.
* Yahoo! Finance is the source for any reference to the performance of an index between two specific periods.
* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.
* Past performance does not guarantee future results.
* You cannot invest directly in an index.
* Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.

June 28, 2010 Weekly Commentary

The Markets

Can world governments "cut" their way to prosperity?

It's no secret that many countries are incurring large--and unsustainable--budget deficits. What's interesting is the approach each country is taking to try to lower their deficits to a manageable level. Britain, Japan, Germany, and Greece, for example, are focused on cutting government spending, according to Bloomberg, June 22. Conversely, the U.S., while concerned about government spending, seems more focused on keeping the stimulus spending alive and raising taxes until (hopefully) the economy can catch fire and grow on its own.

Who's right?

According to Harvard University professor Alberto Alesina, “There have been mountains of evidence in which cutting government spending has been associated with increases in growth, but people still don’t quite get it.” In addition, a study by Ben Broadbent and Kevin Daly of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. as reported by Bloomberg on June 22, "discovered that reducing expenditures by 1 percentage point a year boosted average annual growth by 0.6 percentage point. Raising the ratio of taxes to GDP by the same margin cut growth by an average 0.9 percentage point." And, from a stock market perspective, the same report said, "The equity markets of the countries that sliced spending beat those of other advanced nations by 64% during a three-year period."

Like many things related to finance and economics, we won't know "who's right" until time passes and the market delivers its verdict. Between now and then, expect the vigorous debate on spending cuts versus stimulus spending to continue among academics, investors, and world leaders.

Notes: S&P 500, DJ Global ex US, Gold, DJ-UBS Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not pay a dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; the DJ Equity All REIT TR Index does include reinvested dividends and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; and the 10-year Treasury Note is simply the yield at the close of the day on each of the historical time periods.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance, Barron’s, djindexes.com, London Bullion Market Association.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. N/A means not applicable or not available.

ARE THE FINANCIAL MARKETS "NORMALLY DISTRIBUTED" and should you even care? Consider this. The average height of an American male is 69.4 inches, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, October 22, 2008. If we randomly chose 1,000 American males and calculated their average height, we would likely come up with a number close to 69.4 inches. Now, in an un-random fashion, let's assume we found an 8-foot tall man--who is clearly an extreme outlier--and we have him join the previous group of 1,000. By recalculating the data, we now find the average height of this group of 1,001 men jumps by a very underwhelming 0.03 inches. In other words, adding an extremely tall outlier to this group of average height men had very little effect on the overall average height of the group. Without getting too technical and assuming "tall outliers" are just as likely to be found as "short outliers," we can say the height of men follows a "bell curve" or a normal distribution.

By contrast, let's consider the average net worth of American households. According to the Federal Reserve, February 2009, the average American family had a net worth of $556,300 in 2007. Like above, if we randomly chose 1,000 families, this group would probably have an average net worth near $556,300. However, for fun, let's add Warren Buffett--and his $40 billion net worth--to the group. Recalculating the data, we find the average net worth of this group of 1,001 Americans jumps to $40.5 million! Clearly, adding an extreme outlier to this sample dramatically changed the average of the sample.

As it relates to the financial markets, do you think their distribution of returns looks more like the average height of American men (where an extreme outlier doesn't really affect the average) or the average net worth of American households (where an extreme outlier could have an extreme impact)? If you think the returns in financial markets look like the average height of American men, but it turns out they behave more like the average net worth of American households, you could lose a lot of money. In fact, much of modern portfolio theory is based on the assumption that financial markets follow a normal distribution, i.e., they look like the average height of American men. Unfortunately, experience suggests otherwise.

Warren Buffett-type outliers such as the October 1987 stock market crash, the 2000-2002 bursting of the internet bubble, the 2007-2009 bear market, the 2008 credit crisis, and last month's "flash crash," suggest that the financial markets are subject to large outliers that can significantly affect your financial well-being. Knowing that, you must to try to limit the damage to your portfolio if one of these outliers occurs during your investing lifetime. Modern portfolio theory works, but financial planning done right can mitigate the risks of outliers.

Weekly Focus – Think About It
"In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield."
--Warren Buffett

Best regards,

Kevin Kroskey



* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general.
* The DJ Global ex US is an unmanaged group of non-U.S. securities designed to reflect the performance of the global equity securities that have readily available prices.
* The 10-year Treasury Note represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to the public. Since the U.S. Government is seen as a risk-free borrower, investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for the long-term bond market.
* Gold represents the London afternoon gold price fix as reported by the London Bullion Market Association.
* The DJ Commodity Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.
* The DJ Equity All REIT TR Index measures the total return performance of the equity subcategory of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry as calculated by Dow Jones.
* This newsletter was prepared by PEAK.
* Yahoo! Finance is the source for any reference to the performance of an index between two specific periods.
* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.
* Past performance does not guarantee future results.
* You cannot invest directly in an index.
* Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.

June 21, 2010 Weekly Commentary

The Markets

A hypothetical Doctor of Investments might say we are in an "EKG market."

We've experienced a series of headlines that have sent the market on a yo-yo ride since we dropped the New Year's ball in Times Square six months ago. Here are a few of the eye-raising events that have kept investors on an emotional rollercoaster:

• The S&P 500 index rose 15.2% between February 8 and April 23, according to data from Yahoo! Finance. Unfortunately, investor sentiment quickly turned and the index declined 13.7% between April 23 and June 7, according to data from Yahoo! Finance.
• On May 6, the "flash crash" sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to an intra-day loss of nearly 1,000 points before making a massive recovery to end the day down "only" 348 points, according to Portfolio.com. At one point during the day, the Dow dropped 481 points in 6 minutes and then jumped 502 points just 10 minutes later.
• An April 20 explosion on a drilling rig sent as much as 60,000 barrels of oil a day flowing into the Gulf of Mexico making it the worst oil spill in American history, according to The New York Times on June 18.
• A sovereign debt crisis in Europe sent shivers through world markets and led the European Union to unveil a nearly $1 trillion loan package designed to backstop weak countries from defaulting, according to The Wall Street Journal on May 10.
• Gold prices hit an all-time high of $1,258 per ounce on June 18, "fueled by sovereign risk in the euro zone, historically low interest rates, and concern over the stability of paper currencies," according to CNBC on June 18.

Pop quiz time. After all these headline-grabbing events, in percentage terms, how much do you think the S&P 500 index has gone up or down since the end of last year? Brace yourself. The index has risen a whopping 0.2% between December 31, 2009 and last Friday.

The up-down EKG between the bulls and the bears has, like the U.S. versus Slovenia in the World Cup, ended in a draw. However, unlike the U.S. versus Slovenia, we still have six months left in this year to see who wins the yearly "Investment Cup."

Notes: S&P 500, DJ Global ex US, Gold, DJ-UBS Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not pay a dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; the DJ Equity All REIT TR Index does include reinvested dividends and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; and the 10-year Treasury Note is simply the yield at the close of the day on each of the historical time periods.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance, Barron’s, djindexes.com, London Bullion Market Association.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. N/A means not applicable or not available.

HELEN REDDY PROCLAIMED, "I am woman, hear me roar. In numbers too big to ignore," back in the early 1970s. Today, those words are coming true in education, the workplace, and on Wall Street.

In an article titled, "The End of Men" in the July/August 2010 issue of Atlantic Magazine, author Hanna Rosin reported some little known statistics about how far women have come in today's society. How many of these were you aware of?

• As of earlier this year, women now out number men in the U.S. workforce for the first time ever. 
• Even though women outnumber men in the workforce, three-quarters of the jobs lost in this recession were lost by men.
• Thirteen of the 15 job categories projected to grow the fastest over the next decade are staffed primarily by women.
• Women now hold more than 50% of managerial and professional jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• According to Rosin, women now earn 60% of master’s degrees, about 60% of all bachelor's degrees, about half of all law and medical degrees, and 42% of all MBAs.
• A 2008 study by researchers at Columbia Business School and the University of Maryland looked at the top 1,500 U.S. companies from 1992 to 2006 and discovered that firms that had women in top positions performed better.

The rising level of women's educational attainment and workplace prominence will have a profound impact on the business and investment spheres in the years to come.
Weekly Focus – Think About It
“I shut my eyes in order to see.” --Paul Gauguin

Best regards,

Kevin Kroskey



* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general.
* The DJ Global ex US is an unmanaged group of non-U.S. securities designed to reflect the performance of the global equity securities that have readily available prices.
* The 10-year Treasury Note represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to the public. Since the U.S. Government is seen as a risk-free borrower, investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for the long-term bond market.
* Gold represents the London afternoon gold price fix as reported by the London Bullion Market Association.
* The DJ Commodity Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.
* The DJ Equity All REIT TR Index measures the total return performance of the equity subcategory of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry as calculated by Dow Jones.
* This newsletter was prepared by PEAK.
* Yahoo! Finance is the source for any reference to the performance of an index between two specific periods.
* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.
* Past performance does not guarantee future results.
* You cannot invest directly in an index.
* Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.

June 14, 2010 Weekly Commentary

The Markets

Which country is the most attractive market for investors?

Perhaps Brazil? Russia? India? China? Collectively, those four are known as the "BRIC" countries and for a number of years, many investors have pointed to them as economic stars. However, in a global quarterly poll of investors and analysts who are Bloomberg subscribers released on June 8, "Almost four of 10 respondents picked the U.S. as the market presenting the best opportunities in the year ahead." That placed the U.S. #1 on the list followed by Brazil, China, and India.

Of course, this is simply the opinion of a group of investors and analysts and it does not mean that the U.S. will turn out to be the best market. But, it does raise an interesting observation, which is… there are countries with good economics and countries with good investment opportunities--and they are not always the same.

Here's what I mean. In the first quarter of 2010, Brazil, India, and China's economies expanded at an annual rate of 9.0%, 8.6%, and 11.9%, respectively, as measured by gross domestic product, according to Bloomberg. That's huge. By contrast, the U.S. economy expanded at a relatively modest 3.0% in the first quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. On the surface, you might think that the three countries with the highest economic growth rates would also present the most attractive investment opportunities. Possibly yes, but the latest survey from Bloomberg put the good ol' USA in the #1 spot.

Why would these investors and analysts put a slower-growing U.S. ahead of fast-growing Brazil, India, and China? There could be numerous reasons, but a simple takeaway is this--in the short-term, good economics does not always translate into good investment opportunities. For example, if the fast economic growth in Brazil, India, and China was already "priced into" their financial markets, then the near-term outlook for stock prices might be muted. Conversely, if the modest growth in the U.S. helped drive our stock prices down to a relatively low level, then we might be in the best position to experience a bounce from this "oversold" condition.

This is a long-winded way of saying short-term market movements might not reflect current economic realities.

Notes: S&P 500, DJ Global ex US, Gold, DJ-UBS Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not pay a dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; the DJ Equity All REIT TR Index does include reinvested dividends and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; and the 10-year Treasury Note is simply the yield at the close of the day on each of the historical time periods.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance, Barron’s, djindexes.com, London Bullion Market Association.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. N/A means not applicable or not available.

DID YOU FEEL WEALTHIER in the first 3 months of this year? Well, believe it or not, the net worth of U.S. households rose by $1.1 trillion in the first quarter, according to the Federal Reserve. Most of this increase came from rising stock prices. And, if you believe economists, each extra dollar of wealth should generate about 5 cents of spending over time, according to MarketWatch. Dubbed "The Wealth Effect," it suggests that rising stock prices could lead to a virtuous cycle of higher spending, higher corporate earnings, and higher stock prices. That's the good news.

Here's the bad news. The theory also works in reverse.

Yes, household net worth was up in the first quarter, but it is still down about $11.4 trillion from its early 2007 peak, according to MarketWatch. And, with the roughly 7% slide we've seen in S&P 500 so far in the second quarter, we may see the net worth number drop when the second quarter data is released in a few months.

This net worth data and the stretched balance sheets of many Americans leaves us with a conundrum. On one hand, consumer spending accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity, according to Associated Press. So, if we want robust economic growth, we need consumers to open their wallets and start buying stuff. On the other hand, the pragmatic observer says consumers are already too much in debt and need to curb their spending and build up their savings. This could lead to slower growth.

Essentially, we can keep spending by going deeper in debt and hope we can "leverage" our way to prosperity. Or, we can cut our spending, increase our savings, and gradually build our way back to a sustainable growth rate. Both scenarios would likely cause some pain. The former scenario would likely delay the pain. The latter scenario would likely speed it up.

Sooner or later, don't be surprised if we enter an "Age of Austerity" that enables (forces?) consumers to reduce their debts, and, after a painful adjustment, puts our country back on a path to prosperity.

Weekly Focus – Think About It
"I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow."  --Julia Cameron

Best regards,

Kevin Kroskey



* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general.
* The DJ Global ex US is an unmanaged group of non-U.S. securities designed to reflect the performance of the global equity securities that have readily available prices.
* The 10-year Treasury Note represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to the public. Since the U.S. Government is seen as a risk-free borrower, investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for the long-term bond market.
* Gold represents the London afternoon gold price fix as reported by the London Bullion Market Association.
* The DJ Commodity Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.
* The DJ Equity All REIT TR Index measures the total return performance of the equity subcategory of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry as calculated by Dow Jones.
* This newsletter was prepared by PEAK.
* Yahoo! Finance is the source for any reference to the performance of an index between two specific periods.
* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.
* Past performance does not guarantee future results.
* You cannot invest directly in an index.

June 7, 2010 Weekly Commentary

The Markets

Despite the blaring headlines of late, the U.S. stock market has been stuck in a broad trading range since last September.

It's easy to get caught up in the daily gyrations of the stock market's ups and downs, but when viewed through a longer-term lens, the S&P 500 index has been pinballing between a range of about 1,040 and 1,217. The low end of the range was established in mid-September of last year and the high end of the range was reached in late April of this year, according to data from Yahoo! Finance. Last Friday, the index closed at 1,065, which is near the low end of the range. Range-bound markets are not unusual and with the big rise we've had since March 2009, some consolidation of those gains is par for the course.


Notes: S&P 500, DJ Global ex US, Gold, DJ-UBS Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not pay a dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; the DJ Equity All REIT TR Index does include reinvested dividends and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; and the 10-year Treasury Note is simply the yield at the close of the day on each of the historical time periods.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance, Barron’s, djindexes.com, London Bullion Market Association.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. N/A means not applicable or not available.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD WE EXPECT THE STOCK MARKET to experience declines of at least 5%? When training for athletic events coaches are fond of saying, "No pain, no gain." Likewise, investors should expect to endure the "pain" of market declines in order to benefit from the "gain" of bull markets. But, in order to withstand these market declines, it's helpful to know how much pain is "normal."

The chart below shows more than 100 years of the frequency of various declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Although past performance is no guarantee of future results, the chart should give you some historical perspective:

A History of Declines (1900 - December 2009)

Source: Capital Research and Management Company

(1) Assumes 50% recovery rate

(2) Measures market high to market low

As of last week, the Dow was in the "-10% or more" category, according to CNNMoney.com. This was the first decline of 10% or more since March 2009, according to Barron's. Looking at the chart above, the current decline puts us right in line with the historical frequency of such declines.

We realize that market declines are not enjoyable even if they are in line with historical frequency. However, knowing where we stand within the context of history can help us make clearer and less emotional decisions as it relates to investment strategy.

Weekly Focus – Think About It
"The trend is your friend except at the end where it bends."
--Ed Seykota

Best regards,

Kevin Kroskey



* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general.
* The DJ Global ex US is an unmanaged group of non-U.S. securities designed to reflect the performance of the global equity securities that have readily available prices.
* The 10-year Treasury Note represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to the public. Since the U.S. Government is seen as a risk-free borrower, investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for the long-term bond market.
* Gold represents the London afternoon gold price fix as reported by the London Bullion Market Association.
* The DJ Commodity Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.
* The DJ Equity All REIT TR Index measures the total return performance of the equity subcategory of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry as calculated by Dow Jones.
* Yahoo! Finance is the source for any reference to the performance of an index between two specific periods.
* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.
* This newsletter was prepared by PEAK.
* Past performance does not guarantee future results.
* You cannot invest directly in an index.