What indexes, economic statistics and government data do you regularly track to make investment decisions?
We look at some surveys and leading indicators to better determine where the economy is headed and develop some broad economic perspectives. Often, government data and economic statistics are released too late to be useful to investors and tend to look at the past. Market sentiment measures are good “contrary” indicators to performance – for example, when sentiment is positive and optimism high, market returns are low. And as we believe is the case today, when sentiment is low and confidence is waning, market returns are positive going forward. What is the single, most frequently asked question by clients these days? In today’s economic environment, clients are asking how they can preserve their capital and reduce the volatility of their portfolios. In the past, a lot of people sought the reward but didn’t always acknowledge risk. We’re finding that clients today are going back to fundamentals and are re-examining the risk-reward dynamic. Our goal is to help clients maximize the perfor
