The stock market continues to be controlled by events in Europe. While better than expected economic news was released today for the U.S. in the form of increased orders for durable goods (refrigerators, cars, airplanes, mobile phones etc.), it was not enough to counter growing concerns surrounding the European debt crisis. The increase in durable
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The stock market activity of the past 6 weeks has continued the recent trend of volatility and dramatic swings from positive to negative. According to the Wall Street Journal, the VIX, a measure of volatility and fear in the stock market, reached a three-month high. In this update, we will share our thoughts about the
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Bending Not Breaking In our 2011 Lowe Wealth Advisors Outlook report, we projected that the first half of 2011 would have the potential for continued economic recovery and growth. We felt that the second half of the year could’ under certain circumstances, enjoy ongoing potential growth, but that various global and domestic pressures could manifest in
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Are Red Flags Emerging? A growing number of financial analysts seem to be offering cautionary signals based upon the perception of a slowing economic recovery, the end of the Federal Stimulus (QE2), the debt ceiling and overall global instability. Add to that the fears of inflation, rising interest rates and a persistently weak housing market
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Lowe Wealth Advisors Second Quarter, 2011 Outlook and Strategy Update As we close the first month of the second quarter, investor focus seems to have shifted away from the Middle East turmoil, the tragic events in Japan and the continued sovereign debt issues of Europe and on to the U.S. Debt Ceiling. At the same time,
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Market Update on Japan’s Tragedy Update 8:00 AM March 15: We expect a significant drop at the open of the equity markets this morning. Panic selling is being seen. The best point of comparison we can provide would be the reaction of the equity markets on 9/11. The fear of the extent and impact of
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Libya and oil prices continue to fuel market volatility this afternoon. Lowe Wealth Advisors believes that potential stabilization will occur when the Libya situation is resolved. Oil prices could relax and our domestic stock markets could recover. The wildcard remains a spreading of the unrest to other major oil producing nations. While Lowe Wealth Advisors has a strategy
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Lowe Wealth Advisors hopes that those of you who are located here in the Baltimore-Washington region have had minimal disruption from the recent winter weather. The good news is that in the first sign of spring, pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in about two weeks! We would like to update you regarding the current financial
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2010 Wrap Up To begin, we thought it would be helpful to revisit the significant financial events along with some of the Lowe Wealth Advisors perspectives for 2010. Last year began with an atmosphere of anticipation for continued economic recovery. The market responses were going “as expected” until late spring when the European Debt Crisis erupted
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The landscape is growing increasingly murky as we approach year-end Briefly looking back at 2010, we saw much of the economic recovery peaking in May. Since then, most indicators have hit a plateau or are growing more slowly than expected. While we have seen bright spots in seasonal retail sales and consumer spending, merchants have
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