Manufacturing companies have been adding to their payrolls for two consecutive years, and currently employ 12 million Americans.
During the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, the manufacturing sector contracted sharply and rapidly, with companies laying off thousands of workers. This has perpetuated a … Read More »
President Barack Obama or Mitt Romney? With the 2012 Presidential campaign dominating the current headlines, we were curious to see how the S&P 500 index has performed during previous presidential election years.
Stock Market Returns During Election Years
Since 1960 – … Read More »
The National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS), the largest trade association for public sector pension funds, representing more than 550 funds and nearly $3 trillion in assets, recently unveiled a set of governance practices to assist fiduciaries in positioning pension funds for continuously improved performance, while addressing risks related to changing markets and the … Read More »
European Debt Crisis
The government debt crisis in Europe is likely to persist for most 2012. New governments in Greece and Italy were appointed and have since passed legislation that will reduce government spending. However, bond investors want more structural reforms in employment and tax law in those countries, as well as in Spain and France, … Read More »
Commercial Real Estate
Commercial real estate notched another strong quarter of performance to finish out 2011, as the NFI-ODCE index returned 2.97% for the fourth quarter. Both the income return of 1.32% and the appreciation return of 1.64% continued to show positive strength, as the index followed up a very strong return of 16.32% in 2010 … Read More »
Alternatives
While most multi strategy funds of hedge funds did manage to post positive results for the fourth quarter, the returns were below long term averages. November was the one month when hedge fund strategies and indices were notably down, and that was a result of losses suffered at month-end right after Central Banks announced they … Read More »
Bonds & Treasury
Bond investors enjoyed positive returns for 2012. The Federal Reserve launched its latest quantitative easing program, called “Operation Twist,” in the fourth quarter. The Fed intends to sell $400 billion of shorter-term Treasury securities by June, 2012, and use the proceeds to buy longer-term Treasury securities, with an objective of lowering long-term interest … Read More »
Equity
Stock markets in Europe and emerging market countries had a much more muted rebound in the quarter, rising little more than 4%. While the solvency concerns for countries like Greece and Portugal remained unresolved, the concerns regarding liquidity in the European banking system were reduced due to the European Central Bank’s decision to lend over … Read More »
Asset Class Returns
Global stock market returns rebounded and decoupled, to a certain extent, in the fourth quarter, after generating negative returns ranging from -13.9% for the S&P 500 index, to -22.6% in the emerging markets during the third quarter. U.S stocks in all capitalization ranges jumped more than 12%, as newly released economic data suggested … Read More »
The first half of 2011 has been plagued by debt worries in peripheral Europe and the U.S., which has led to a slowdown in global growth and fears of a potential double-dip recession in the U.S. After a disappointing first quarter, economists … Read More »
