IN SPITE OF UNCERTAINTY AROUND the world, the domestic equity indices have turned in a solid performance the last two weeks. By the numbers, for the two weeks ended Friday, April 1, 2011, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 12,376, up 518 points, or 4.2%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed at 1332, up 53 points, or 4%, and the NASDAQ Composite closed at 2789, up 146 points, or 5.2%.
For the first quarter of 2011, the Dow gained 6.4%. This put the quarter’s return in the 70th percentile of returns over the last 120 years, and represents an annualized return of more than 28%.
Non-farm payrolls grew by an adjusted 216,000 in March, the best growth since May of 2010. This puts the official unemployment rate at 8.8%, though we suspect that the unofficial unemployment and underemployment rate is closer to 20%.
David Sokol has left Berkshire, presumably to run the Sokol family office. Maybe he should have had a V8, instead of buying Lubrizol for his own account first.
Home prices in 20 major U.S. markets fell 1% in January, according to Case-Schiller, the sixth consecutive monthly decline. Only Washington, D.C. saw an increase in home prices. At least someone is benefiting from our grandchildren’s tax money.
In other economic news, consumer spending was up 0.7% in February, though consumer confidence dropped. Factory orders and manufacturing growth, as well as public and private construction spending, fell in February.
As noted more than once in this space, we continue to have concerns about domestic and international equity markets. Sovereign debt, both domestically and around the world, combined with the plantation mentality that seems so prevalent, doesn’t bode well for strong growing economies, and the consumers and companies that participate in those economies.
Financial planning as a discipline has, for about twenty five years, centered on financial analysis and investment management. The missing links for many have been the coordination of these number crunching exercises with a client’s work life, which we can call human capital, as well as the client’s choice to give back, which we can call shared capital.
Would it help to engage in a way such that financial analysis and investment management was integrated with how you engaged with work and business, as well as your vision of how you wanted to make an impact? Let us know. We are exploring this question internally at the moment, and would appreciate any feedback you care to share.
Pain is a gift. It lets us know something is wrong, and that it’s time to pay attention. What if the nerve endings in your fingers were gone? You could pick up a hot skillet from the stove, but would lose your hand at some point, due to burn damage. More on this topic later.
Quote of the week:
“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty, than the person who has nothing to eat.”
Mother Teresa
No comments:
Post a Comment