The Independent Market Observer

4/29/14 – Off to Hawaii

Posted by Brad McMillan, CFA®, CFP®

Find me on:

This entry was posted on Apr 29, 2014 1:00:00 PM

and tagged Commentary

Leave a comment

I’m at the airport on my way to the Commonwealth President’s Club conference, so this will be a brief post. As I’ve written many times before, I love these conferences for a bunch of reasons—the venues, the events, and, most of all, the people.

From a news perspective, this actually looks like a good time to be out of the office. Reviewing the papers today, I was struck by how, well, normal the headlines seemed—all about foreign policy and politics, nothing about economic or market crises. Even the business news was back to company-specific events.

For a while now, I’ve been talking about how the economic stats are normalizing. We’re not back to where we need to be, but we’re significantly closer, to the point that the recovery’s trajectory has started to flatten out and normal market mechanisms are coming into play. Some housing markets are hot, some not. Normal. Some industries are doing well, others not so well. Normal. Some states are booming and creating jobs, others aren’t. Normal. Europe is squabbling, and the Middle East is a mess. Normal.

We’re not completely back on course—Ukraine, China, and the European situation are all issues that will continue to rattle things. But the tendency toward normal (and much more the old normal than the new) can’t be denied.

This is very encouraging. It’s what we’ve been working toward for the past five-plus years, and it’s nice to see it finally start to take shape. Hopefully nothing unusual will happen in the next week or so.


Subscribe via Email

Crash-Test Investing

Hot Topics



New Call-to-action

Conversations

Archives

see all

Subscribe


Disclosure

The information on this website is intended for informational/educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or investment product. Please contact your financial professional for more information specific to your situation.

Certain sections of this commentary contain forward-looking statements that are based on our reasonable expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Diversification does not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets.

The S&P 500 Index is a broad-based measurement of changes in stock market conditions based on the average performance of 500 widely held common stocks. All indices are unmanaged and investors cannot invest directly in an index.

The MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australia, Far East) Index is a free float‐adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets, excluding the U.S. and Canada. The MSCI EAFE Index consists of 21 developed market country indices.

One basis point (bp) is equal to 1/100th of 1 percent, or 0.01 percent.

The VIX (CBOE Volatility Index) measures the market’s expectation of 30-day volatility across a wide range of S&P 500 options.

The forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio divides the current share price of the index by its estimated future earnings.

Third-party links are provided to you as a courtesy. We make no representation as to the completeness or accuracy of information provided on these websites. Information on such sites, including third-party links contained within, should not be construed as an endorsement or adoption by Commonwealth of any kind. You should consult with a financial advisor regarding your specific situation.

Member FINRASIPC

Please review our Terms of Use

Commonwealth Financial Network®