Hi Everyone,
August is a month to assess and look ahead as we have an exciting few months to go in 2012. There will be no shortage of economic data and political news. Here are some things to keep in mind.
~Susan
August and Ahead
The first seven months of the year had varied results for the main sectors of the U.S. equity market. Using the S&P 500 as the benchmark, look at how it shaped up:
The Outperformers-
Telecom
Technology
Financials
Consumer Discretionary
Healthcare
Consumer Staples
The Underperformers-
Industrials
Utilities
Materials
Energy
I favor technology, healthcare, consumer staples, and industrials going forward. As I mentioned last week, it’s important that the Bush tax cuts get extended. Dividend payors tend to be concentrated in the consumer staples, telecom services, and utilities sectors so keep those in mind as we see decisions getting made on future tax rates for dividends. You also need to remember that dividends are not guaranteed. Companies can reduce and eliminate them at will.
Sector analysis is important but investing in a single sector will be subject to greater volatility than investing more broadly across many sectors and companies.
I can help with your allocation.
Until next week,
Susan R. Linkous