Alan Zafran, Senior Managing Director and Wealth Manager for First Republic Private Wealth Management discusses current financial market conditions and the outlook going forward with Carol Massar and Jason Kelly of Bloomberg and Sirius Satellite Radio.
Key Takeaways:
- China’s government has taken significant steps to protect its economic growth. Accordingly, current weakness in emerging market equities (of which China is the largest component) may in itself not drag other global equity markets down meaningfully in value.
- Why: China is guiding its economy towards slower, sustainable growth. Consensus does not expect a hard landing, but the economy is slowing.
- Modest levels of inflation and wage growth are not problematic for U.S. equity prices looking forward.
- We still like stocks better than bonds, and bonds better than cash, for investors who have a long-term investment time horizon.
- As always, Risks and Potential Returns Are Currently Balanced – Be Prudent, Stay Diversified, and Keep Eyes on Your Goals.