U.S. Equity Markets Ascend, Economy not so Much Written by Anirban Bassu, Sage Policy Group   Asset Prices Rise Even as Economic Growth Remains Lackluster   In 2015, the U.S. economy expanded 2.4 percent.  That was precisely the same rate of growth achieved in 2014.  The U.S. economy continues to fall short of rates
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Will Aggressive Central Bank Policy Finally Stoke Inflation? The last seven days have busy ones for central bankers with all of the big three – Japan, Europe and the U.S. – holding meetings with resultant outlook revisions, and in the case of the European Central Bank (ECB), further policy change.  The details are complex and
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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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