Weekly Update
Highlights of this week’s update:
- Please remember, we will be working remotely next week outside our offices. All services will continue to function with business as usual. Please call us if you have any questions.
- 2013 tax information forms are all now available to you for access. The remaining K-1 forms are now available online at the specific company’s website and “hard copies” should be in the mail this week. All 1099 information has now been mailed and is also available online with the Trust Company of America.
- The financial markets started last week with a focus on Russia and the Ukraine, but ended the week with more attention geared towards U.S. economic data. The week ended mixed for the major U.S. stock indices.
- Our longer term outlook remains unchanged, with a view that U.S. stocks are currently overvalued in general and are keeping our attention on individual stocks/equities in specific companies and industries. A re-balanced of portfolios will be conducted this week, with continued underweighting in equities/stocks for all risk levels.
READ ON FOR MORE DETAILS………………………………………………………………………….
Office Schedule Reminder:
We will be working remotely all next week and be out of our offices. This is for the week of Monday, March 15-Friday, March 21 only. We will have full access to all services and will be functioning as normal, just not at our physical location during the week. Phones, email, and all other services will still be “business as usual”. If for some reason you need to meet with us or bring something by the office, be sure to do so this week or week after next. PLEASE call if you have any questions.
TAX Forms Update:
By now you all should have received your 2013 Tax Information Packet from the Trust Company of America for your taxable accounts. REMEMBER: This information is also available online and a “CSV” (Excel) file is also provided for downloading all the transactions into several different tax preparation software programs. We highly encourage you to let your tax preparer know this is available and if you have any questions or need assistance in providing this to them, please let us know.
K-1 Updates: The remaining 2013 K-1 forms for all pertinent investments are now available online with each company and all hard copy forms should be mailed out to investors this week. Again, depending on your risk level and if you were a client during the first quarter of 2013, you should expect the following K-1’s:
CAPITAL PRESERVATION, CONSERVATIVE, AND MODERATE RISK LEVELS:
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners-Online now at their corporate website (brookfieldinfrastructure.com) and due to be mailed this week.
Linn Energy-Online now on their website (LinnEnergy.com) and due to be mailed out this week.
GROWTH AND AGGRESSIVE RISK LEVELS:
Natural Resource Partners, LP-Online now at their corporate website (nrplp.com) and have already have been mailed.
ProShares Ultra Gold-Online now at the company website (https://www.taxpackagesupport.com/proshares) and due to be mailed out this week.
The above K-1’s should be the last 2013 tax information you need from your investment accounts. Please call us if you have any questions whatsoever or if we can be of further help in assisting you with your 2013 tax information.
The Markets:
Last week started on a sour note after markets reacted negatively to Russia’s incursion into the southern Ukrainian province of Crimea. While the Dow Jones Industrials registered a 154 point decline, or 0.95% (St. Louis Federal Reserve data), capital markets lashed out at Russian financial markets amid the threat of sanctions.
Russia’s major market index, the MICEX Index, fell an astounding 11% on Monday (Micex.com, Bloomberg), and the Russian ruble, which had already lost ground this year, slid to a record low against the dollar (Bloomberg). That forced the Central Bank of Russia to hike its key rate from 5.50% to 7.0% (Central Bank of Russia press release, Bloomberg), hoping to stem the damage. Though the hike was framed as a “temporary” increase, the rise failed to prevent a flight of capital out of Russia.
In other words, financial markets inflicted significant damage. On Tuesday, public comments from Vladimir Putin signaled an easing in tensions (Reuters), suggesting the Russian president may have blinked in the face of the ferocious route of Russian capital markets.
Understandably, investors sometimes get anxious when U.S. markets fall in the wake of geopolitical instability and a barrage of ominous photos that are easily accessed via cable TV or the Internet. Historically, some in the market take a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach, which we saw Monday.
By Sunday morning, the Ukrainian headlines were already buried near the bottom of the major financial websites instead of being more prominently displayed as we saw a week ago.
Our Outlook:
At this time, our longer term outlook remains unchanged. We continue to view the current stock “market” as overvalued, and still remain underweighted at this time in our equity/stock exposure for all risk levels. We are looking for individual stocks/equities versus mutual funds at this time and have made some adjustments to the portfolios’ holdings over the past week. We plan to “re-balance” the overall asset mix for all risk levels this week while still keeping underweighted in the stock/equity category. As always, we will keep you advised and continue to monitor the markets to see if any changes are warranted.
We consider it a privilege to serve each and every one of you and look forward to many years of working together regarding your financial goals.
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.