It’s been little over a month since rating agency Fitch downgraded U.S. government debt from its highest rating (AAA) to its second highest rating (AA+). Among other reasons, the agency cited “a high and growing general government debt burden” as a reason for the downgrade. If hoping the downgrade would serve as a wake-up call to Washington, it hasn’t. Since the debt ceiling debate was resolved back in June, the Treasury department has steadily increased the amount of Treasury debt outstanding. As of September 18, total debt outstanding stood at $33 trillion, which is up from the $31.5 trillion right before Congress ga

The specter of a U.S. federal government shutdown continues to loom this week as Congress has just 12 days to agree on a budget before the October 1 deadline. House Republicans released a temporary measure on Sunday which could push the deadline out another month, with the hopes of a final solution coming in the interim. However, that proposal has encountered pushback even from within their own ranks, not to mention from across the aisle, and has yet to be voted on. The bad news is it looks like the government is headed for another shutdown; the good news is the stock market has seen this before.

The government has had 20 shutdow

Recent data suggests economic conditions in Europe are deteriorating, removing a key element of LPL Research’s positive view of the attractively valued developed international equities asset class. Previous U.S. dollar weakness and strong earnings momentum, which were other key reasons why we became more interested in European investing earlier this year, have reversed and suggest looking elsewhere for investment opportunities. Another international market to consider is Japan, which is also attractively valued with better fundamentals than Europe, in our view.

Outlook for Europe Is Worsening

Recent data in Europe, su

The BRIC acronym, without the “S,” was introduced in 2001 by the Goldman Sachs chief economist who highlighted the prodigious growth and investment prospects of Brazil, Russia, India, and China combined. In 2009, Russia advanced the BRIC platform to create an informal bloc that could challenge the dominance of Western nations, particularly the United States. In 2010, South Africa joined and became the “S” in the BRICS lexicon. The original bloc, an informal economic alliance, comprises approximately 45% of the global supply chain for commodities, including industrial, precious, and agricultural products. In terms of co