FINANCIAL ADVISOR INSIGHTS: Political Dysfunction Has Made Investors More Practical

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Washington Weighing On The Rich (Barron's)

A UBS survey of 2,056 investors of whom 50 percent have $1 million or more in investible assets found that 76 percent are "extremely or very worried” about the political stalemate in Washington. Mike Ryan, chief investment strategist of UBS Wealth Management Americas writes that political dysfunction "has made investors more pragmatic. I would argue they’re not euphoric, but they’re not despondent.”

5 Key Marketing Trends For Advisors In 2013 (Advisor Perspectives)

Kristen Luke says there are 5 key ways in which reaching new clients. 1) Mobile-friendly marketing - More Americans are expected to access the internet through mobile devices than PCs by 2015 and advisors should look for more ways to market through mobile apps. 2) Video marketing is gaining popularity 3) Personalization - Little things like personalized bios, trading in stock photos for actual photos of their office and staff on the web, being able to customize content based on the location of customers 4) TED-style presentations - shorter presentations with more digestible bites 5) Social SEO - Use social media like Google Plus since Google has launched author ranking.

The Market Rally Is Based On Four Dubious Assumptions (Comstock Partners)

Despite the problems to the U.S. economy, weak global growth, and dysfunctional politics stocks continue to rally on four assumptions. First, markets can't go down as global central banks continue to ease. Second, markets didn't take a huge hit over previous political threats, and they shouldn't this time either. Third, "S&P 500 earnings will rise to $108 in 2013, resulting in a current P/E multiple of only 13.7." Fourth, the economic recovery will resume once problems in Washington are solved or kicked down the road.

"The cyclical bull market is now almost four years old and is close to the historical average in terms of both amplitude and duration. At this point it is out of sync with economic growth and valuation, and the risks seem far greater than the potential rewards."

The Biggest Divide On Wall Street (Barry Ritholtz)

These two charts show that there is a record level of stock market bearishness among sell-side analysts, but that portfolio managers are more bullish than they have been in quite some time.

The Greatest Explorer In The World Says The Commodities Super-Cycle Is Still Intact (CEO.ca)

Many have argued that the commodities supercycle has come to an end. Dave Lowell, often considered the most successful mining explorationist, doesn't believe that is the case.

"The commodities super-cycle is in tact, Lowell believes. There’s elasticity in mining companies’ profit margins, he told us, but not in the demand for the underlying commodities they produce. For that reason, large, undeveloped, low grade copper deposits will need to be put into production, sooner than later."