retirement interruptus: That Was The Week That Was-3rd Week March

Are We Heading For A Summer of Discontent? In a CNBC article posted 3/17 a unnamed Wall Street forecaster believes we’ll have exactly that along with a flat market as global tensions continue. Worse than expected winter plus global disturbances could tip us into a ‘grumbling discontent rather than a steady and progressive U.S. lead recovery.’

CRASH PROOFING YOUR INVESTMENTS MAY BE INDEED IMPOSSIBLE BUT YOU CAN LIMIT PORTFOLIO RISK. LEARN HOW- EMAIL OR CALL ME FOR DETAILS. pstanley@westminsterfinancial.com

My Favorite Financial Sister Duo –Mary Anne and Pamela Aden report that the stock market is still on a roll despite Ukraine, and other worrisome signs. Caution is warranted, they say, since anything is possible. Even an unexpected crash. The sisters caution investors to watch the 15 day moving average, or 1820 on the S&P.

We’re Not Bubblicious Quite Yet…Jeremy Grantham in a Barrons.com 3/15, interview, the founder of Boston based money manager GMO, said stocks are high but not in bubble territory. Grantham has a history of sniffing out tops and explained that the S&P 500 had to go to 2350 before he called it a bubble. That’s 30% higher than we are now and so, Grantham concludes, we got a ways to go.

The Chinese Are ComingTwo of The World’s Largest Internet Companies Will Have Their IPO in the U.S.A. Hint- one does what Amazon does only more and the other is the Chinese equivalent of our Twitter.

A Delta Flight from Florida to Atlanta Lost a panel off a wing last Sunday. The plane landed safely but no news on where the panel fell, or on who or what. It’s not as if they flew over the ocean to get to Atlanta…there’s people down there.

Stocks resumed their climb Monday. Investors felt comfortable with the ‘democratic’ vote in Crimea and ignored the ‘Russia Can Nuke the U.S.’ rhetoric by certain Russian reporters. Okay, it was a relief rally and I would certainly watch the VIX, as it came down some but didn’t relax completely. Russian GDP revised downward. Gold for Monday down. You can expect more volatility as rhetoric increases. Putin isn’t going to back down anytime soon and sanctions will hurt the E.U. and us. Tuesday, the rally continued.

Matthew Lynn @ MarketWatch.com Gave 6 Economic Consequences of a New Cold War:

The EU economy gets worse
Energy costs rise
The Russian Economy Declines
Defense Spending Increases
More Quantitative Easing
Strategic Economies Get Support (think Greece and Turkey)

According to Employee Benefit Research Institute One-Third of All Workers Have Less than $1,000 Saved in Their Retirement Plans and Other Savings. Only 44%, the survey found, have tried to calculate how much they need for retirement. My feeling is that the industry has made it seem so overwhelming to save that a great many workers simply have quit trying. The solution has to be made simple and fundamentally easy. It hasn’t helped that wages have fallen, while food and housing have increased and energy costs have gone through the roof this winter.

Janet Yellen, new Fed Chief, Speaks for One Hour and Markets Only Hear Three Words….’ around six months,’ when defining what she meant when tapering might end and rate hikes could begin. And that was in answer to her definition of what long-term meant when she said ‘a considerable period’ in her statement. According to ‘experts’ did she mean six months when she said it? Probably not, since making a defined time table is not something a Fed Chief does. They like to appear more vague. It didn’t matter, once out of her mouth markets sold off big time. The Dow fell over 100 points and all indices were hit. As Thursday dawns overseas markets are down and U.S. indicates a lower open.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE! Markets bounced back higher Thursday as traders reflected on ‘exactly’ what Yellen meant. DJIA +108, gold was positive +$7.00.

29 out of 30 Top Banks Passed Stress Test. The test was what would happen in a severe recession where joblessness would be over 11%, along with a 50% drop in the stock market. How much capital would the banks retain in such a downturn. Its estimated that there would be $501 billion in losses, consisting of $316 billion in loan and lease losses plus $151 in other monies. Here are the results as published by the Federal Reserve.