Market Update for January 21, 2009

Well folks so much for an Obama coronation rally. The shortened trading week kicked off with a significant sell off on Tuesday led by a decline in the financial sector. Boston based State Street bank lost more than 50% of its value when it reported that some of its investments are likely to create significant losses in the future. This caught most by surprise as State Street was fairing pretty well, relatively speaking, through the recent financial sector demise. As I mentioned in previous e-mails, I believe that we will be in a volatile market at least for the next few months. I also expect that this will be the worst quarter of the year and hopefully things will start to get better after that.

On the plus side, IBM surprised with better than expected numbers so maybe things are not as gloomy as people think. Keep in mind that we are still more than 5% above the previous lows set back a few months ago. Every day that goes by without trading at a new low, means we are that much closer to pulling out of this downtrend.

Remember, interest rates are low so make sure you evaluate refinancing as I am finding that people are saving significant amounts of money. In fact, I’m in the middle of a refinance myself. If you want me to run the numbers for you, let me know.

In the meantime try to stay positive as things will eventually get better. Let’s just hope they don’t get a lot worse before they do. We have all been through tough times before and we are all still standing. I’ll keep you posted as things transpire. Please feel free to call with questions or concerns as that is what I’m here for.