Schwartz Financial Weekly Commentary 9/10/12

The Markets

 

It’s about time.

 

Believe it or not, the U.S. stock market as measured by the S&P 500 index hit an all-time record high last week when you include reinvested dividends, according to Bloomberg. Now, you may not have seen that headline in the news last week because the index itself is still 9.3 percent below its all-time high reached on October 9, 2007.

 

Here are a few other interesting stats to ponder:

 

1)   In 2012 alone, the rise in the U.S. stock market added $1.9 trillion to investors’ wealth.

2)   As of last week, the S&P 500 index rose 112 percent from its 12-year low reached in March 2009.

3)   Even though economic growth is sluggish, U.S. corporate earnings are projected to reach a record high this year. If reached, this would place earnings about 20 percent higher than 2007’s – the year the U.S. stock market hit its all-time high.

4)   By historical standards, “The S&P 500 is trading 13 percent below its average valuation since the 1950s.”

5)   World central banks expanded their balance sheets by about 9 trillion dollars since the financial crisis started.

Sources: Bloomberg; Barron’s

 

Number 5 above is an important point to keep in mind. Easy money has greased the world economy and now there’s talk of even more monetary stimulus in Europe and the U.S., according to MarketWatch. What remains unanswered is, how much of the market’s rise has been stimulated by the stimulus and what happens when the stimulus is no longer available or effective? Can the economy stand on its own?

 

Barron’s framed it this way, “At some level, the market gets priced not simply for the monetary-easing cure to remedy economic ills, but for that drug being administered to a healthy patient for recreational purposes.” Translation – if central banks overshoot and markets get addicted to the easy money high, the inevitable withdrawal of the money drug may be painful.

 

Data as of 9/7/12	1-Week	Y-T-D	1-Year	3-Year	5-Year	10-Year
Standard & Poor's 500 (Domestic Stocks)	2.2%	14.3%	20.0%	11.9%	-0.2%	4.8%
DJ Global ex US (Foreign Stocks)	2.7	6.9	1.0	2.0	-5.3	6.7
10-year Treasury Note (Yield Only)	1.7	N/A	2.0	3.5	4.4	4.1
Gold (per ounce)	4.8	9.8	-4.5	20.3	19.8	18.3
DJ-UBS Commodity Index	0.8	4.7	-9.3	5.5	-2.5	3.3
DJ Equity All REIT TR Index	1.6	19.3	23.1	25.9	4.3	11.4

Notes: S&P 500, DJ Global ex US, Gold, DJ-UBS Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not pay a dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; the DJ Equity All REIT TR Index does include reinvested dividends and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; and the 10-year Treasury Note is simply the yield at the close of the day on each of the historical time periods.

Sources: Yahoo! Finance, Barron’s, djindexes.com, London Bullion Market Association.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.  Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.  N/A means not applicable.

 

CAN GOOD NEWS BE GOOD FOR THE WRONG REASON? Last week, the government released the eagerly awaited monthly payroll report. It showed a modest 96,000 increase in non-farm jobs in August compared to the month before. While that number was disappointingly low, the unemployment rate showed a surprising (and positive) drop to 8.1 percent; down from 8.3 percent the previous month.

 

Here’s where it gets tricky: the drop in the unemployment rate occurred for the wrong reason, according to The Economist. The main reason why the unemployment rate dropped was 368,000 people left the labor force. With fewer people being counted in the labor force, the unemployment rate looks better than it might be otherwise.

 

A related statistic, called the labor force participation rate, measures the share of the working-age population either working or looking for work. This figure fell to 63.5 percent last month – a three-decade low, according to The Economist.

 

Is a declining labor force participation rate a bad thing? According to Matthew O’Brien writing in the Atlantic, “Less people in the labor force means, all else equal, that we will produce less stuff in the long run. And, less stuff means we have less wealth, lower stock prices, and fewer taxes to pay for retirement.”

 

So, why are people leaving the labor force? Here are a few reasons:

 

·         Going back to school

·         Raising children

·         Retiring

·         Going on disability

Source: The Wall Street Journal

 

Now, there’s one more big reason why people leave the labor force – they get discouraged and simply stop looking for a job even though they want one. Conveniently, the government tells us there are, unfortunately, nearly 7 million of those folks as of the end of August; that’s up from about 4.4 million near the end of 2007.

 

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke recently called the unemployment level a “grave concern” and the numbers seem to support him. Bottom line, even though the unemployment rate dropped, it dropped for the wrong reason and we still have a long way to go to get this country working again.

 

Weekly Focus – Think About It…

 

“Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.”

--Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

Value vs. Growth Investing (8/31/12)

Name	1-Week	YTD	4-Week	13-Week	1-Year	3-Year	5-Year
US Market	2.44	16.07	3.22	10.02	22.16	15.09	2.50
Large Cap	2.18	16.57	2.87	9.98	23.40	14.29	2.00
Large Core	1.70	16.17	2.84	9.82	24.48	14.19	3.30
Large Growth	2.11	21.28	3.39	9.77	25.07	16.73	4.10
Large Value	2.72	12.55	2.34	10.19	20.63	11.96	-1.69
Mid Cap	3.03	14.54	3.80	9.76	17.97	16.96	3.29
Mid Core	2.76	14.78	3.49	8.64	21.67	18.61	4.36
Mid Growth	3.01	15.78	4.31	10.46	13.85	18.07	3.09
Mid Value	3.32	13.00	3.55	10.13	18.26	14.12	2.13
Small Cap	3.66	15.08	5.35	11.09	20.87	17.16	4.60
Small Core	3.67	14.92	5.55	10.84	18.29	16.04	3.44
Small Growth	3.39	15.40	5.27	11.62	20.43	17.84	4.35
Small Value	3.91	14.94	5.22	10.83	24.14	17.56	5.84
US Core	2.04	15.84	3.16	9.68	23.57	15.32	3.68
US Growth	2.36	19.74	3.69	10.02	22.44	17.17	3.98
US Value	2.93	12.81	2.78	10.22	20.39	12.79	-0.40

©2004 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Morningstar is not responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information and has not granted its consent to be considered or deemed an “expert” under the Securities Act of 1933. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.  Indices are unmanaged and while these indices can be invested in directly, this is neither a recommendation nor an offer to purchase.  This can only be done by prospectus and should be on the recommendation of a licensed professional.

 

Office Notes:

 

“Five Wishes” for end of life care

 

Often there are no easy decisions toward the end of life. I’ve seen families regret deciding to take one course of action because it “did not turn out well” but fail to realize that ultimately both courses of action were not going to “turn out well.” My advice is to remember there are no easy decisions and not to blame yourself just because it did not turn out well.

One such document that might help you and your loved ones toward the end of life is an advanced medical directive. The organization, Aging With Dignity, has provided a free and relatively easy method of thinking through these issues and creating such a document which they have called Five Wishes.
 

Five Wishes lets your family and doctors know:

 1. The person you want to make health care decisions for you when you can’t make them.
 2. The kind of medical treatment you want or don’t want.
 3. How comfortable you want to be.
 4. How you want people to treat you.
 5. What you want your loved ones to know.

These aren’t easy questions, but the PDF Five Wishes document has a simple format where you cross out whatever you don’t want.

 

Best regards,

,

Michael L. Schwartz, RFC®, CWS®, CFS

 

P.S.  Please feel free to forward this commentary to family, friends, or colleagues.  If you would like us to add them to the list, please reply to this email with their email address and we will ask for their permission to be added. 

 

Michael L. Schwartz, RFC®, CWS®, CFS, offers securities through First Allied Securities, Inc., A Registered Broker/Dealer,  Member FINRA-SIPC.  Advisory Services offered through First Allied Advisory Services, A Registered Investment Advisor.

Schwartz Financial Service is not an affiliate of First Allied Securities, Inc.

 

This information is provided for informational purposes only and is not a solicitation or recommendation that any particular investor should purchase or sell any security. The information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to be reliable but its accuracy or completeness is not guaranteed.  Any opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.  An Index is a composite of securities that provides a performance benchmark.  Returns are presented for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to project the performance of any specific investment.  Indexes are unmanaged, do not incur management fees, costs and expenses and cannot be invested in directly.  Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

 

* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general.

 

* The DJ Global ex US is an unmanaged group of non-U.S. securities designed to reflect the performance of the global equity securities that have readily available prices. 

 

* The 10-year Treasury Note represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to the public. Since the U.S. Government is seen as a risk-free borrower, investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for the long-term bond market.

 

* Gold represents the London afternoon gold price fix as reported by the London Bullion Market Association.

 

* The DJ Commodity Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures contracts on 19 physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.

 

* The DJ Equity All REIT TR Index measures the total return performance of the equity subcategory of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry as calculated by Dow Jones.

 

* Yahoo! Finance is the source for any reference to the performance of an index between two specific periods.

 

* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.

 

* Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

* You cannot invest directly in an index.

 

* Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.

 

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