We Wish all of You and Your Families a Very Happy Thanksgiving!
We have so much to be thankful for again this year, and working with all of you is something we are very thankful and appreciative of all year long. We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving and hope you all get to spend some extra family time together next week celebrating this special holiday.
A 2017 Thanksgiving Table?
We hope not!
Our Corporate Offices Will be Moving to Our Own Building:
We want to let you all know in advance that we are planning to move our offices towards the end of December to our own, new office building. We will send out an official announcement of the exact date and location once we firm up our move date. You should also be receiving a post card pre-announcing our move as well. Our building is due to be completed around the middle of December, and we are excited to be able to have our own facility and continue to serve you even better in the years to come. It will be located in the Quail Springs Corporate area, just north of Memorial Road and west of May Avenue in northwest Oklahoma City, not far from our current location. We will keep you posted.
The Markets:
The major market indices took a breather last week, only to come back into positive territory again this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 23,458.36 yesterday, November 16th. The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index ended at 2,585.64 last night and is now 15.47% higher than at the beginning of this year. (Google Finance)
Interest rates continue to remain in check, with the yield for the 10 year U.S. Treasury now at the 2.35% level, still lower than at the beginning of 2017. (MarketWatch) Mortgage rates are now around 3.84% for a 30-year fixed mortgage and 3.10% for a 15-year fixed. (Bankrate.com)
Corporate earnings continue to come in better than expected for the third quarter, and this has helped prop-up U.S. stock prices in general. With 92% of the S&P 500 companies having reported profits for the third quarter, Thompson Reuters is now forecasting an 8.1% growth rate vs. one year ago. As late as October 23, earnings were only expected to rise 3.8%.
Tax Reform:
The House of Representatives tax reform bill passed this week, and now we await the Senate version. The passage in the House was expected, but the Senate may not be as easy. Also, before any formal changes can be implemented to tax law, reconciliation between both houses of Congress must be agreed upon and passed as law. We may still be a long way from that happening at this point in time.
Gridlock hasn’t gone away in Washington, and in some respects, it seems to have intensified. The U.S. is still grappling with hotspots overseas. Though the U.S. economy is exhibiting signs it may be entering a higher orbit of growth, it has been a lackluster economic expansion.
This year economic fundamentals and low interest rates remain a beacon for investors. It’s not that a selloff in the stock market can’t occur. We’ve experienced four corrections of at least 10% in the S&P 500 Index since the bull market began in 2009 (St. Louis Federal Reserve data). But investors remain optimistic that a profit-punishing recession isn’t likely in the near term. Reason: most leading economic indicators are positive.
Again, we wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and as always, please don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions or concerns, or if we can be of further service in any way.
God Bless,
Your TEAM at F.I.G. Financial Advisory Services, Inc.
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1 The Dow Jones Industrials Average is an unmanaged index of 30 major companies which cannot be invested into directly. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
3 The S&P 500 Index is an unmanaged index of 500 larger companies which cannot be invested into directly. Past performance does not guarantee future results
Uncertainty and Volatility