Yesterday, the stock markets saw a significant increase in volatility and ultimately closed the day sharply lower. The mushrooming debt crisis in Greece and in Europe eclipsed positive domestic economic news. Naturally, Lowe fs will be monitoring the situation closely. Readers of this column know that Lowe fs expected the situation in Europe to deteriorate.
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Update on Harold April 29 We are pleased to report that Harold is home from the hospital and feeling much better. The pneumonia turned out to be a strain that is common for patients recovering from Lymphoma. Once identified, and the treatment was adjusted accordingly, the results were favorable. He met with his oncologist this
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The announcement today of criminal fraud charges against Goldman Sachs sent shockwaves through the stock markets and especially the financial sector. In our view the events probably do not signal a change in the current market cycle. However, Lowe fs will be carefully monitoring the situation to ensure that it is containable. While it is
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Lowe fs continues to have concern regarding the debt issues in Europe. The situation in our opinion is by no means cured. We believe the Spain and Portugal and possibly Italy may be in a similar situation to that of Greece. The EU has been vague on the details of the assistance they will be
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As we dig out from the amazing snows here in Maryland, we wanted to provide you with a brief summary of the current market conditions. For those of you out of state and in warmer climates, the scene here over the past week has been surreal. Looking at today’s market action, there is really no
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Last Friday, several key senators began to elevate pressure on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. The stock market reacted with a third day of declines. However, as of Monday, the stock markets appear to be taking a respite based on growing support for Chairman Bernanke. If Ben Bernanke’s confirmation were to fail we believe that the
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The past two trading days have seen the Dow Jones Industrial Average (see index disclaimer) drop into negative territory for 2010 (Source: Wall Street Journal). During the later half of 2009, we often wrote about possible weakness and potential volatility in 2010. At this time we do not believe any fundamental economic factors have changed.
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Our outlook which we wrote about on October 26th (see below) remains virtually unchanged. The month of October proved to be volatile for the stock market. Many of you may be surprised to see a negative return on your October account statements, for the first time since March. In fact, many major market indexes were
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This is a good time to bring you up-to-date on Lowefs’ current thoughts regarding the status of the markets and the economy. In our most recent analysis, economist Anirban Basu, Capital Markets analyst Morris Segall, and the financial planners at Lowe fs all conclude that we are likely heading toward a “W-shaped” economic recovery. (The
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The corporate earnings season got underway today with Alcoa reporting losses greater than what analysts estimated. Lowe fs has been looking to corporate earnings as one indicator of the overall ability of the market to sustain the recent rally or create downward pressure and a pull back from recent advances. Dismal unemployment numbers released on
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