At the end of last quarter, we shared with you that it had been over 2 ¼ years since the U.S. stock market had experienced a drawdown of 10% or more. We wrote that we were overdue for a market correction – and it appears that we may now be in the throes of that correction. As you are undoubtedly aware, the stock market took a beating in recent days. Given the present geo-political tensions, Ebola scare and the uncertain economic outlook for overseas countries, we are actually surprised that it took so long for this market volatility to occur. Given our bottom-up assessment, at this point in time we do not believe this drawdown will result in a recession or financial crisis. In fact, the recent battering experienced in the energy and natural resource sectors presents us with a short-term buying opportunity for good quality investments in these sectors. Given our continuous review of economic and financial market conditions, we have carefully allocated your portfolio in anticipation of the market fluctuations and we remain optimistic about the future performance of our well-diversified portfolios.
Commentary by: Michael Joyce, CFA, CFP
JoycePayne Partners’ President and CEO