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Finding Strength in the U.S. Economy
By Frances A. McMorris
September 8, 2011
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Volatile markets with their recent triple-digit swings have made investors jittery and political pundits question whether the so-called economic recovery is backsliding into recession.
And the issue that will be at the forefront of next year’s U.S. presidential election is jobs. As the nation gears up to listen to President Barack Obama’s speech on creating jobs, Ameriprise Financial’s chief market strategist David Joy told a group of reporters who had gathered Wednesday night at the New York Stock Exchange that he expects “unemployment to remain high for a long time.”
Along with his colleague, Ameriprise senior economist Russell Price, Joy predicted modest growth for the rest of the year and into 2012. But looking specifically at the Obama $300 billion jobs plan, Joy says he is “not expecting much in terms of impact.”
Both experts believe that the U.S. economy is basically sound, but Price says “there’s probably a 30% chance of a double-dip recession.”
Still both men noted that corporate profits are strong even though third quarter estimates have dipped fractionally.
“We like equities here in the U.S. and emerging markets are getting attractive once again,” Joy said. And he believes the markets “can absorb some additional bad news” although the European debt crisis may prove more problematic.
While there may be investing opportunities in the markets, the weak housing market and unemployment hovering just above 9% are the issues that concern the nation and that are depressing the president’s poll numbers.
And, voters -- including those without jobs and those who want to look for better ones --are getting mighty impatient.
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Growth -- the kind measured in revenue and profits -- is the ultimate goal for the entire brokerage industry. As On Wall Street editor-in-chief Frances McMorris points out, figuring out how to achieve these goals while dealing with constant change is what firms like Raymond James and its competitors are now learning to do on the fly.
I hate mixed messages but it seems there is finally some good news on the employment front. According to the Department of Labor this morning, non-farm payroll employment added 244,000 jobs in April, with the private sector seeing job growth of 268,000.
While that figure exceeded expectations, the unemployment rate rose to 9%. Some experts explained that increase to the people who weren’t looking for jobs now resuming their job-hunt. …
Advisors should be building on their strengths, their interests and, of course, their talents. The best and the brightest advisors have one thing in common: Each one has found his or her specialty or strength and constructed a platform for success.
Just when the advisory community was hoping that it had put Bernie Madoff behind it, federal authorities announced that two of the disgraced financier’s lieutenants have been indicted on criminal charges and are also facing a civil complaint from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Frances McMorris was named editor-in-chief of ON WALL STREET in February 2008, after serving as executive editor since December 2004. She also created and serves as the host of AdvisorTV, an online video interview show appearing at onwallstreet.com.
From indictments to verdicts and appeals, Ms. McMorris has covered many major, high-profile cases in both federal and state courts as a legal affairs reporter for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, Newsday and The New York Law Journal. The cases that she has covered include: the seditious conspiracy trial of Sheik Oman Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric convicted of being the spiritual mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center; the constitutional battle over the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy; the Crown Heights riot murder trial; federal racketeering cases against violent gangs; the Long Island pet cemetery trial and several securities fraud and insider trading cases, among others.
The legal issues she has written about are diverse and numerous, ranging from economic espionage to employment discrimination rulings and the first story to report that there is no expectation of privacy for employee emails written in the workplace.
Ms. McMorris is a 1993 graduate of Fordham University School of Law and admitted to the New York and New Jersey bars. She has appeared on the former CNNfn to give expert commentary on trials.
She also served as president of the Newswomen’s Club of New York for three years while working as an assistant managing editor at The Daily Deal in New York.
ON WALL STREET magazine has a circulation of more than 90,000—reaching financial advisors and brokers at the most prestigious brokerage firms who serve high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth investors.
FEED
Frances McMorris was named editor-in-chief of ON WALL STREET in February 2008, after serving as executive editor since December 2004. She also created and serves as the host of AdvisorTV, an online video interview show appearing at onwallstreet.com. 
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