US & World Economy-

The US economy, along with much of the world, has been experiencing an easing in the pace of recovery growth. This is common in post-recession rebounds and usually lasts 4-6 months unless accompanied by tightening from the Fed (fortunately, the US Fed is still very accommodating with low short-term interest rates). Recoveries are usually uneven. Our housing market and bank lending industry are the largest laggers inside the country and euro-zone sovereign debt crisis along with China’s inflation/growth fight are the current biggest international concerns. Nevertheless, we continue to slowly grow and the S&P 500 is expected to earn a record $100 per share this year for the first time. California businesses are also recovering and many valuations are back to or nearing all time highs as well. Continue reading →

US Economy-

The US Economy continues to chug along, rising for seventh consecutive quarter, fueled by strong corporate earnings, a long awaited drop in unemployment, renewed consumer confidence and earnest attempts to focus on our out of control budget deficits – all of which caused the stock market to post its best first quarter since 1998 (after a 6.4% pull back, which fit neatly into our last quarter newsletter’s 5-7% pull back forecast). However, the news has not been all good. The CPI rose almost 2% (8% annualized) over the quarter as the dollar continued to fall and commodities, led by oil, rose swiftly. Inflation is heating up around the world and foreign central bankers are starting to raise interest rates. It is only a matter of time before our zero interest rate policy comes to an end. Continue reading →

US Economy-

The economic expansion we had forecast is finally in full swing. Market pundits and economists are continuing to raise GDP and profit expectations for 2011, while the stock market has followed with uninterrupted gains since the major structural shift in the financial markets in early November (see December 3, 2010 update). In fact, investor sentiment may soon get too far ahead of the economy, leaving the stock markets vulnerable to a pull back. Continue reading →

Summary-

A growing sense that our economic recovery could be stronger than anticipated has lead the US Stock Market up, close to our year-end target of 1225 on the S&P 500. Inflation continues to be mild and US businesses report better than expected profits due to near record productivity gains from a lean work force. Commercial real estate is finally following residential in a bounce from deeply depressed levels. However, the real growth continues to be in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and Asia in general, as their internal consumption for Western goods and services grows. While we will have our short-term setbacks, we are experiencing a better than expected recovery which will lead to a healthy economy in a few years. Continue reading →

Summary-

After the crash of ’08 and the vigorous rebound of ’09, we expect the economy and financial markets to spend most of 2010 moving sideways as they adjust to a slow “grind out” recovery. Jobs will be the key, as there can be little CPI inflation, rent growth, gain in consumer spending or main street improvements until unemployment is below 8% and falling. That is unlikely until well into 2011. Like the USC football team, it will be a building year, necessary before a healthy future economy can emerge. Continue reading →

U.S. Economy-

It has been a little over a year since the Wall Street/banking meltdown took what should have been a garden variety recession into a “second great depression” free fall. In retrospect, what happened? In addition to the
underlying toxic real estate loan problems, I believe two key factors put the “panic” into this recession: 1) banking problem transparency – high level, public discussions of potential nationalization, closures and fire sale mergers of large financial institutions became a self fulfilling prophecy. If you announce that a big bank could be under-capitalized if depositors withdraw their money, people will pull their money out and it will become undercapitalized…

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The “New Normal”

Like the aftermath of 9/11, I believe that the United States will have some lasting implications from the near collapse of our financial systems and our current worldwide asset devaluation. I have been an interested observer, as you may have, in the rapid unwinding of asset-backed leverage and the subsequent damage it has caused across all investments and previous assumptions of what is safe and truly secure. Continue reading →

Investment Summary-

The second quarter of 2009 continued to see the global economic “Great Recession” slow its decline and saw confidence grow that the GDP will turn back up in the second half of the year. Prices of stocks, bonds and commodities all rebounded sharply in April and May before
stalling in June. A tension exists between balancing the early signs of recovery with prospects of a “jobless recovery” and economically unhelpful government policies presently being proposed. Our near-term outlook is neutral with little expectation of further price appreciation. Our overall strategy continues to be focusing on low/medium risk income producing investments along with a smaller allocation to inflation/weak dollar hedges. Continue reading →