Dear Clients,
Today has been another tumultuous time in the market with the Dow closing down nearly 6.5%.
However, some perspective may be helpful.
President Trump was elected in November, 2016. At that time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was roughly 18,500 (versus today’s value of 19,500).
In the past few years of the current administration, we have experienced:
- Elimination of Financial, Climate and Employment Regulations
- Pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower Interest Rates during record market performance
- Increased Employment primarily for Hourly, Part-Time and Seasonal Workers with fewer ‘salaried with benefits’ positions that provide a living wage
- Reduction in domestic spending at the federal level with greater shifts toward privatization and defense spending
- Near elimination of the Affordable Care Act which provided a means for self-employed individuals / workers without employer health-care options to obtain affordable care
- Massive tax cuts aimed primarily at Corporations
- Less emphasis on long-term research/science with greater investment in the short term at the expense of long-tem.
- Record corporate stock buy-backs (which have inflated equity values, depleted corporate cash reserves and made companies much more vulnerable to shocks)
While the above decisions resulted in improved market performance, they also in many cases, resulted in short-term, artificially inflated equity values.
All of the above decisions have made our current situation even more challenging.
It is very difficult to watch the market rise and fall with such extremes but having been through this many times before, we know stability will return to life and to the market.
Together, let’s continue to exercise patience, closely follow NIH/CDC Guidelines and focus our efforts on those things we can enjoy, impact or improve.