Mark Levy’s Economic Update – Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Today is the 12^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks against our country. Being born and raised in Long Island, New York, I feel close to the horrific events that occurred and wish to honor the memory of all the victims and responders who were hurt or killed and say “we will never forget”. So, Syria gets the spotlight today and last night President Obama made his case for “limited action” against Syria. Negotiations are under way between Russia, Syria and other parties to determine if a settlement can be reached for dismantling and removing Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities. We will see if these negotiations prove to be fruitful – the equity markets have been rallying in that last few days in hopes of a negotiated settlement. The Dow 30 Industrial Average is currently trading just a few points below 15,300 and apart from geopolitical events; global economic reports have been mixed. Emerging markets have suffered from fear of the Federal Reserve contemplating tapering of its bond buying program, while Europe and China have recently reported improving economic data. Speaking of the Dow, three of its components are about to be changed. Alcoa, a Dow stock for 54 years, will be replaced by athletic-gear maker Nike Inc. Payments company Visa Inc. will replace Hewlett Packard, which joined the index in 1997, and securities firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will supplant Bank of America, which spent 5 years in the blue chip benchmark. The changes, which will take effect with the close of trading on September 20, “were prompted by the low stock price of the three companies slated for removal and the index committee’s desire to diversify the sector and industry group representation of the index,” S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, the company that oversees the Dow, said in a statement. LPL Financial just rolled out a new and improved Account View. This is the portal LPL clients use to view their investment portfolios online. I apologize for not informing you sooner of this change; I was traveling when the switch for the new software was turned on. The new Account View is a superior window to view your investments from, but it does require a new one time verification process for the client turn the new Account View on and it must be done from a desktop computer – not a mobile device. If you run into difficulty, my assistant, Rosemary, will be happy to assist you. Lastly, there are upcoming debt ceiling debates, Fed tapering, Syria, etc., to worry about and no doubt some market volatility may occur. I believe these concerns will be overcome and the bull market in equities will continue and most of our portfolios are constructed, in general, to benefit from this thinking in the long run. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have. – Mark   The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.  To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing.  * Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly – Stock investing involves risk including loss of principal.