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2011 Review: Economy and Markets

Posted by Brent Everett on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 in Unconventional Wisdom

The past year reminded investors that they should hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and be thankful when reality does not match their fears. Investors entered 2011 with hopes that the world economy would continue recovering from a long and painful deleveraging process. Equity markets had posted two straight years of positive performance, central banks remained committed to pro-growth monetary policy, and major developed nations were focused on reducing debt.

By mid-year, however, optimism faded as troubling events around the world dominated headlines. The devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, political unrest in the Middle East, rising oil prices, a US credit downgrade, the threat of another global recession, and an escalating debt crisis in Europe weighed heavily on markets. As stock market volatility returned to global financial crisis levels, investors faced a major test to their discipline and staying power.

Although US stocks experienced some of the highest volatility in years, the broad US market delivered flat performance in 2011. Developed markets logged negative returns, and emerging markets had mixed performance, with most countries also underperforming the US. The bright spots were in the fixed income arena, where a flight to quality triggered by the euro debt crisis and US credit downgrade boosted returns on US government securities, inflation-protected securities, and municipal bonds.

Click here to access the entire report.

Tags: bonds, capital markets, economy, stocks

Brent Everett

Brent Everett founded Profisys, LLC, a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor, in 1998. While acting as Managing Director of that firm, he developed the investment philosophy and the portfolio models currently used by Talis Advisors. He earned a B.S. in Computing and Information Sciences from Oklahoma State University. Mr. Everett’s background includes experience in strategic marketing, executive management and investor relations at Texas Instruments, Samsung Semiconductor, EDI, CSCI, and his own consulting practice. Brent served on the Board of Directors for CSCI, where he helped structure and negotiate management's successful purchase of the company.

Mr. Everett has been a member of the Financial Planning Association, where he was elected to the Board of Directors of the local chapter, the International Association of Financial Engineers, the Econometrics Society, the Association of Pension Professionals and Actuaries Benefits Council, the Estate Planning Council of North Texas and Mensa. He has discussed small cap stock investing on CNNfn and his views regarding investment advisor disclosure have been quoted by several major publications. Along with Scott Maxwell, Brent has been the cohost of The Peaceful Wealth Radio Hour on CNN. He was named as one of Texas Monthly magazine's "5 Star" wealth managers in 2010 and 2011 and one of D Magazine's top wealth managers in 2010.

Mr. Everett lives in Plano with his wife and their Labrador Retreiver. He has served as a member of the Business and Professional Leadership Committee of the Plano Symphony Orchestra, and enjoys reading, fly fishing, college sports, and Formula One racing.