Federated Investor's Senior Equity Strategist, Linda Duessel, offers a Weekly Update. Below your find an excerpt from the week of April 22, 2016. If you're interested in reading the full report, download it here. [+] Read More

Federated Investors' Senior Equity Strategist, Linda Duessel comments on the election, market volatility, stabilization in the U.S. Manufacturing sector and more in her Weekly Update. "This was a meeting-packed 5-day mad race crisscrossing North Carolina, with visits in Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Raleigh, Wilmington back to Raleigh…then Winston-Salem and finishing in Lake Norman. Everywhere we went the weather was perfect, the food was fabulous and the advisers and end clients were so welcoming. We were there on Tuesday’s primary election date. People were mostly amused by this madcap political season. An adviser in Greensboro suggested that once the nominees are selected, their debate should be pay per view. “It would be unbelievable…huge!” Certainly over the weekend the political rhetoric and menace reached a fever pitch and yet, somehow investors are not concerned. Trump is to blame, MoveOn is to blame, Congress is to blame…take a number. How this isn’t a bigger overhang on stocks is beyond me. [+] Read More

Federated Investor's Senior Equity Strategist, Linda Duessel, provides her insight on this year's market volatility in Federated's weekly update, Main Street is Calmer than Wall Street for a Change. "I spent most of the week in San Diego, where I wasn’t prepared for the 80-degree temperatures and blinding sunshine, leaving my sunglasses at home (living in cold and cloudy Pittsburgh, I only associate sunglasses with summertime). Well, a chill adviser gave me hers! It’s all chill here. Walking along the water, there is a young man practicing tai chi—be calm, find your center. He’s not worried. Further along my walk is a tarot card reader having an intense discussion with a couple—I’m not eavesdropping but I think the discussion is personal and not about the markets. And a little further down is a vendor selling dream catchers—ever heard of them? Off to meetings with advisers, one lamented, “What do you tell clients?! They look at the screens and say ‘blankety blank blank.’ ” [+] Read More

The Federated Strategic Value Dividend Q4 Commentary reviews the end of 2015 including an assessment of the uncertainty caused by oil prices, interest rates, manufacturing activity and a slowing China. "Market Overview Concerns over energy, manufacturing and China helped snuff out a budding Santa Claus rally, with the three major domestic equity indexes closing down on the month and the big two—the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones—also down for the year. December’s performance was representative of the entire year, as encouraging news on jobs, autos and consumers once again battled unsettling news on oil prices, manufacturing activity and a slowing China, leaving investors uncertain about the future. [+] Read More

Federated Investor's Senior Equity Strategist, Linda A. Duesse discusses oil prices, earnings, election years, the Santa Claus Rally (SCR) and more in her 2016 Outlook. "As an indecisive year draws to a close —the S&P 500 crossed the flat line a in 2015—the market record 26 times remains in a difficult position. While the seasonal backdrop is certainly supportive through January, daily, weekly and monthly momentum indicators are not oversold and continue to weaken. Individuals continue to dump equity funds, market breadth remains narrow, the rally off the August lows failed to generate the internal surge often seen in the early innings of a durable advance, and credit conditions are still suggesting caution, with high-yield spreads ending 2015 at their highest level in nearly 3 years. The macro backdrop isn’t great either. Global growth is slowing, while in the U.S., real GDP remains stuck in a 2%-2.5% rut. Ironically, the ability of companies to make money in this environment may be supportive of this frustrating norm. While the top line of developed-market companies has been rising much slower than in previous recoveries, profits have grown at a very decent pace, a result of operating leverage that has grown steadily over the last quarter century. In other words, companies have learned to generate profits in a low-growth environment and have been successful at expanding margins. One of the key reasons, Empirical Research says, is the improved use of capital, i.e., with returns on capital improving, margins can improve without the capital intensity typical of past cycles. A consequence is that a capital-light business model comes with a capital spending-light recovery, which means the accelerator effect on GDP from that spending will be muted and the recovery is destined to remain sluggish. [+] Read More

Federated Investor's Q3 international strategic value dividend account commentary reivews the affect of August volatility and the ability of their strategy to provide a substantially higher-than-market yield and long-term dividend growth. "Market Overview" Equity markets pulled off their August low but were still down on the month, closing out their worst quarter in four years as investor fears over China, lower oil and a potential global slowdown outweighed generally better economic data at home.The Federal Reserve added to the uncertainty and volatility, choosing to put off liftoff at its September meeting, rattling the markets even though futures had put the odds of a move at well below even. [+] Read More

Federated has released their second quarter, managed account commentary for their Strategic Value Dividend portfolio.  "Market Overview The major equity indexes slipped in June, as generally better-than-expected data on the U.S. economy gave way to worries late in the month over a possible Greek default, exit from the euro or both.The bulk of the monthly decline, which saw the S&P 500, Dow and NASDAQ fall a respective 2.1%, 2.2% and 1.6%, came on June 29, when a strong risk-off trade sent global equity markets tumbling as the Greek issue came to a head. June’s losses were enough to push the S&P to a virtually flat total return for the quarter. [+] Read More

In their Q1 2015 International Strategic Value Dividend ADR Commentary, dividend money manger, Federated Investors, discusses their diversification strategy which can help reduce portfolio volatility. "In order to pursue its objectives of dividend yield, dividend growth and lower downside risk, the portfolio invests in high-yielding, high-quality stocks, many of which are found within mature markets and sectors that typically exhibit a low level of cyclicality." [+] Read More

Money manager Federated Investors’ Strategic Value Dividend managed account strategy falls into this category, and has some of the qualities an income-seeking investor is after. The strategy’s objective is to provide a high level of current income, long-term capital appreciation driven by dividend growth, and lower downside risk.2 Why Does Federated Focus on Dividend Paying Stocks? Research conducted by Federated Investors shows that over the period from July 1, 1996 to June 30, 2013, a high dividend paying stock strategy generated an average annualized total return of 10%, which is 278 basis points higher than the 7.22% annualized return realized by the S&P 500. [+] Read More