International money manager Wenthworth Hauser's fall investment commentary focuses on the international equity markets and economies. "The global economy is slowing due to a deepening recession in Europe, tepid U.S. growth and slower growth in several developing economies including China. The developed countries of the world are battling large budget deficits and expanding sovereign debt. Unless the legislative and executive branches of government in the U.S. take action, a combination of spending cuts and tax increases effective at the beginning of 2013 will likely send the domestic economy into a downturn. On a more positive note, corporate profits are near a record level, corporate balances sheets are strong and consumers are repairing their balance sheets. Central banks around the world are flooding the system with liquidity which should help support asset prices and defer sovereign default and deflation." Download Full Commmentary Here Get Free Research Reports about Wentworth, Hauser & Violich [+] Read More

Lazard Asset Management provides their review of Europe over the last quarter and what they expect moving forward. "Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti recently claimed there was one week to save the euro. While this may be an exaggeration, we feel it neatly sums up the tensions just below the surface as Europe's existential crisis enters a new phase. Much is changing across the continent, but a number of factors in particular are worth watching, including further action by Europe's political elites and the European Central Bank (ECB), movements in the 10-year government bond yields of Spain and Italy, and company results for the second quarter. Significant movements in any of these areas could indicate a substantial shift in the outlook for Europe, in our view." Download Full Commmentary Here Get Free Research Reports about Lazard Asset Management [+] Read More

Michael Mullane of Tradewinds Global Investors examines how risk and risk managed investing is viewed in today's ever-changing world. "A healthy approach to investing requires a balanced, realistic assessment of risk. Value is rarely found in neat packages free of any uncertainties, but leverage in a single speculative position can quickly backfire, and negative perceptions "everyone" holds may be obscuring great prospects. A sophisticated investor must be willing to look past conventional wisdom, spending time and thought in a multi-dimensional assessment of possible outcomes to synthesize an appropriate level of conviction toward given opportunities. At Tradewinds, we try to evaluate investments from a fresh perspective, going beyond groupthink to appraise truly important driving factors. This thoughtful analysis of value and certainty flows to our choice of investments, our weightings in those investments and our decisions about how to combine investments." Read more about risk managed investing by downloading the full report. [+] Read More

Calamos Investments' April 2012 commentary focuses on rising debt and the implications for the market and economy. ""Risk on" is in favor and global markets have responded to QE and the liquidity surge, but we think it makes sense to be cautious about the sustainability of the current expansion. We are maintaining healthy skepticism. As we noted, we believe that a secular bull market requires a few more years of debt reduction, normalization of rates or at least the likelihood of normal rates, fiscal solutions to developed world deficit spending and the creation of a pro-growth, pro-business environment." Download Full Commmentary Here Get Free Research Reports about Calamos Investments [+] Read More

Janus' Analyst Viewpoints offer their thoughts on natural gas pricing, implications for energy and industrial companies and growth opportunities for well-positioned firms. "At some point, the gas price is likely to fall below the operational cost of production, which will cause a lot of production to be shut down. We're also likely to see an increase in demand from industrial users or other sectors. Longer term, we think new markets will open up. Some will be in the industrial sector, others will be electric utilities, and we’ll probably see exports to global markets in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG)." Download Full Commmentary Here Get Free Research Reports about Janus Capital Management LLC [+] Read More

Roosevelt Investments' February market commentary looks at the improvements in the US economy and how many investors have missed the current rally in the market. "It has now been eighteen straight weeks that the U.S. economy has been on an improving trajectory as indicated by macroeconomic data, including ISM surveys, durable goods orders, regional Fed surveys, and consumer sentiment. Given that consumer spending is a disproportionate driver of our economy, labor statistics are also of critical importance. On this front, unemployment claims have been steadily declining, as layoffs have fallen with improved activity and better sentiment by employers. New claims are now at the lowest level since April 2008, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 8.3%." Download Full Commmentary Here Get Free Research Reports about Roosevelt Investment Group [+] Read More

Chief Equity Strategist for BlackRock Bob Doll reviews their asset allocation outlook for 2012. Their equity, fixed income and municipal fixed income outlooks for 2012 are also discussed. "Conditions have improved compared to last quarter, with the US economy showing signs of acceleration and European policymakers moving further along the path of progress. With the bearish tone receding, investors should consider moving into "risk" assets and out of "safe" assets, especially on pullbacks." Download Full Commmentary Here Get Free Research Reports about Blackrock Inc [+] Read More

With the dramatic events in Europe over the last few days, Louis Navellier is out with a special market update describing what's going on. "What is killing Greece and Italy is that their cumulative budget deficits are larger than the U.S. relative to GDP. When interest rates were low, both Greece and Italy could manage their interest burdens, but now that both countries are characterized by soaring interest rates, they have hit their respective breaking points." Download Full Commmentary Here Get Free Research Reports about Navellier & Associates, Inc. [+] Read More

Bob Doll, Chief Equity Strategist at money manager BlackRock believes the fundamental foundations for the global economy should be sufficient to keep the recovery on track. "Our summary view is that we believe investors are overly pessimistic about the possibility of a renewed recession in the United States. It is important to remember that equity markets have a poor track record as acting as predictors of recessions and corporate fundamentals remain strong. Since 1950, the United States has never entered a recession with corporate balance sheets as flush with cash as they currently are." Download Full Commmentary Here Get Free Research Reports about Blackrock Inc [+] Read More