Once again the markets are seeing a surge in volatility, this time centered on further declines in commodity prices and growing risks among high-yield securities. Additionally, everyone is watching the Fed as they are poised to implement the first rate increase since June 2006 and at least partially unsure as to what that will mean
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Yet again the Fed has found reasons to not move rates from the current zero-bound 0 – 0.25% target range.  While the market was increasing leaning to this expectation going into the afternoon announcement, a few new details were revealed in the announcement and following press conference. Sources of caution center primarily on the recent
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Stories are circulating (Bloomberg) about China selling some of its holdings of U.S. treasury debt.  The actions are being taken to raise capital to support the Yuan after the initiative devaluation steps.  China holds an estimated $1.5 trillion of U.S. treasury debt and total foreign holdings are estimated to be close to $3.7 trillion. More
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July 23, 2015 The U.S. equity market (S&P500) saw a total return of 0.7% in the second quarter to deliver a year-to-date total return of 1.2%. (FactSet) Price return for the index is barely up for the year, meaning that the majority of total return came from dividends.  Equity returns managed the flat to slightly
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While the situation in Greece has captured the majority of the headlines over the past month attention has shifted toward the rapid decline of the mainland Chinese stock exchanges. (Look for an update on Monday regarding the developments in Greece which appear to be moving in a more positive direction) Given that China’s economy is
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Gregory A. Lowe, CFP® You might be wondering why it is so difficult for a resolution to the Greek debt crisis.  When you peel back the layers it comes down to two key issues. For Greece, their economy is largely based on tourism and small amount of production of goods and services.  As their debt
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Given Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s comments yesterday regarding equity markets, we want to provide you with a brief update relative to the markets.   Bonds have witnessed a sharp increase in volatility in the past two weeks. The biggest relative change has been seen in international markets. A chart of German 10-year rates over past
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  April 15, 2015   The U.S. equity market (S&P500) delivered a total return of 1.0% in the first quarter, the slowest start for the first three months of a year since 2009.  A weak start in January followed by a strong rebound in February saw the U.S. equity markets go lower and then higher
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By Bradley Williams, Lowe Wealth Advisors Chief Investment Officer Precious metals can be a potential defense against currency devaluation and offer possible protection against currency wars. Currency wars are effectively part of the end‐game that central banks promulgate through quantitative easing. The quantitative easing is meant to stimulate growth by lowering interest rates, creating additional
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The investment landscape has followed a remarkable path over the past several years, and interest rates in particular. Despite countless forecast to the contrary, most market interest rates have continued to trend lower. Now more recently a growing array of deposit accounts and fixed income securities have moved through what was thought to be a
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