Certified Financial Planner, Registered Investment Advisor, Massachusetts » investing

Financial Spotlight Radio Recording – May 1, 2009

Bob — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:00:57 +0000

Welcome to Bob’s weekly Financial Spotlight

The radio show is every Friday at 5:30am on WCRN AM 83 Radio, and also available here for your convenience! Just press the play button below…

Please upgrade your browser

Market Update – April 21, 2009

Bob — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:17:24 +0000

As you have probably noticed, the past month or so has yielded some very positive returns in the markets. We have had better than expected news on many fronts that has helped move the S & P 500 up about 25%. Although high levels of volatility still exist, it is not nearly as volatile as it was in the 4th quarter of 2008. This is the good news. Unfortunately, I still expect to see significant ups and downs for at least the next six months or until we get clarity on the health of the banking system and figure out the impact of bad or underperforming commercial loans. The commercial loan arena is believed to be the next shoe to drop by most experts including myself. I do not expect the commercial loan arena to be as bad as the residential mortgage arena because commercial loans were underwritten with greater scrutiny than residential loans.

My prognosis for 2009 is that the S & P 500 will post a positive yearly return with heavy volatility along the way. I believe that residential and commercial real estate will continue to be a drag on the overall economy with prices drifting lower in both sectors. I still believe that the recession will technically end in 2009 but it won’t feel that way at least until the second quarter of 2010. This prognosis is based on the assumption that the banking system continues to heal and the powers that be make the right decisions.

Financial Spotlight Radio Recording – March 27, 2009

Bob — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:21:10 +0000

Welcome to Bob’s weekly Financial Spotlight

The radio show is every Friday at 5:30am on WCRN AM 83 Radio, and also available here for your convenience! Just press the play button below…

Please upgrade your browser

Financial Spotlight – March 26, 2009

Debra — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:45:05 +0000

Folks, it looks like things are finally starting to improve somewhat on Wall Street. I have repeatedly said that in order to get out of this economic situation we first need to stabilize the financial system. And now the Fed, the Treasury, and the Obama administration seem to be on board with this logic. The market is obviously feeling more confident as evidenced by the 20% move off the bottom set back in February. But don’t pop the champagne corks just yet as it is going to take a while for this down turn to play itself out which means we are in for a lot of volatility in the coming weeks and months.

Even though the market is showing some signs of improvement the overall economy is not. In fact it probably won’t until at least the end of this year, at the earliest. As a result expect to see more layoffs. On a more positive note, spring is here so if you do lose your job at least you’ll have some warm weather to enjoy.

Please feel free to call or e-mail any questions or concerns. I’ll keep you posted as events transpire

Financial Spotlight – March 20, 2009

Debra — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:43:40 +0000

It has been another action packed week in the markets. At least this time around the markets have been trading to the upside. The good news is that spring is here and we are up about 10% or so from the lows that were set about three weeks ago. The bad news is that there is no end in sight to the wild swings. Most experts, including myself, believe that these turbulent markets will continue at least into early summer. I still believe that we will be able to look back in early to mid summer and have seen the lows in the market. This assumes the government is successful in fixing the banking system to a level the market is comfortable with.

My expectations on the economy haven’t changed that much since my last communication. I expect the economy to have difficulty throughout most of this year. This means more layoffs, less hiring, and more for sale signs on homes and business’s. At best, I see the economy starting to get better in the last quarter of 2009. On a positive note, I think Chairmen of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, has finally come around to doing what needs to be done to get the economy moving forward again. I know that I have criticized him previously for not getting his act in gear but now I have to give him some credit where credit is due. Once his stimulus package starts working its way into the economy things should start to get improve.

I’ll keep you posted as events of magnitude transpire. As always please feel free to call with questions and concerns.

Financial Spotlight – March 6, 2009

Bob — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:04:27 +0000

Welcome to Bob’s weekly Financial Spotlight (24 minutes).

The radio show is every Friday at 5:30am on WCRN AM 83 Radio, and also available here for your convenience! Just press the play button below…

Please upgrade your browser

Financial Spotlight – February 20, 2009

Bob — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:57:33 +0000

Welcome to Bob’s weekly Financial Spotlight (21 minutes).

The radio show is every Friday at 5:30am on WCRN AM 83 Radio, and also available here for your convenience! Just press the play button below…

Please upgrade your browser

Market Update – February 16, 2009

Bob — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:04:06 +0000

Well folks, so far this month the groundhog let us down by indicating we have another six weeks of winter and then our politicians let us down by voting for a stimulus package that most financial people see mostly as a spending spree disguised as a stimulus package. As a result, we had a sell off last week on Wall Street to the tune of about 5% with the hardest hit sector being the financials. The real reason for the sell off was the new treasury secretary, Tim Geithner’s inability to convince the financial markets that the administration actually has a plan to deal with the troubled banking institutions. I will bring you more details of the stimulus package in coming updates once I get a more complete handle on it.

I’ve mentioned before that the volatility of the markets comes as no surprise to me as I expect this type of volatility in both directions for the reasonably foreseeable future. The good news is that we seem to be able, despite all the negative news, to stay above the 800 level on the S & P 500.

The bottom line is that the markets and the economy are cyclical just like the seasons themselves. As we know that winter will eventually give way to spring, we can also be sure that a recession will eventually lead to recovery. The difference is that the timing of seasonal changes are much easier to forecast.

As always I want to thank you for your continued support and especially thank those who have referred friends and family members. If you have any questions or concerns, please call me at the office or send an e-mail. Enjoy the day!!!

Don’t forget to listen to my Financial Spotlight radio show now available here on my blog.