Market Commentary: Insights from Thrivent Asset Management Leaders

Employment Reports Disappoint

May 10, 2012

Russell Swansen
Chief Investment Officer

One week each month is big for reports on employment. In addition to the weekly report on unemployment claims, two monthly reports are released, one by private payroll processing company ADP and another by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Last week, ADP and the BLS both reported disappointing job-growth numbers. Read full post.

Early Estimate Shows Economic Growth Slowing In First Quarter

May 7, 2012

Russell Swansen
Chief Investment Officer

It usually does not pay to put too much stock in any one economic report, good or bad. That's certainly the case with the latest report on the economy from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The BEA reported last Friday that the nation's Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, expanded at a 2.2% annual rate in the first quarter, down from a 3% pace in the fourth quarter of 2011. To its credit, the stock market seemed to shrug off the news, perhaps because leading indicators have been projecting much stronger economic growth ahead. Read full post.

We Have a Plan, But It's Not a Very Good One

May 4, 2012

Russell Swansen
Chief Investment Officer

It is arguable whether a bad plan is better than no plan at all. In the case of the federal debt and our growing federal budget deficits, a bad plan may be better: it can at least motivate action.

As we have seen in the U.S. and Europe, it has been almost impossible to get any action on government budgets absent a crisis. It last happened in the U.S. last year, when the federal debt ceiling had to be raised. Congressional deficit hawks used the crisis to win $900 billion in federal spending cuts, plus an additional $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts if Congress' "Super Committee" could not agree on a better plan, which it could not. Read full post.

In their Market Commentary, Thrivent Asset Management leaders discuss the financial markets, the economy and their respective effects on investors. Writers' opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect that of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans or its members. From time to time, to illustrate a point, they may make reference to asset classes or portfolios they oversee at a macro-economic level. They are not recommending or endorsing the purchase of any individual security. Asset management services provided by Thrivent Asset Management, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Securities and investment advisory services are offered through Thrivent Investment Management Inc., 625 Fourth Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55415, a FINRA and SIPC member and a wholly owned subsidiary of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Past performance is not a guarantee of future result.

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