Lorence & Vander Zwart is a wealth management firm located in beautiful downtown Holland, Michigan. LVZ is registered investment advisory firm managing wealth for individuals, trust, corporations and retirement plans.
As a third party money manager, LVZ provides the ability for advisors and client’s to customize and control their investment portfolios on a wide range of investment platforms.
We continue to see strength in the economy but GDP comparisons to previous recoveries show this time around to be relatively weak, leaving doubt about sustainability and the ability to create jobs. Because of this, we are reading investor sentiment to be waning. We should experience increased volatility, trending positive toward year-end as growth numbers stabilize. It won’t be high growth – but it will be growth.
Preliminary numbers suggest that spending grew at a 5%-6% annual rate in the second quarter. With inflation close to 1%, it means that real growth was roughly in the vicinity of 4%-5%. Moreover, fairly strong numbers for new orders suggest that the economy will continue to expand in period immediately ahead.
The economic numbers tell us where the economy has been. Stock prices often tell us where investors expect the economy to go. One of the reasons that stock prices often respond positively or negatively in advance of the economy is because stock prices are more sensitive to monetary policy changes than the overall economy.
