As 2014 winds down, the United States continues its painfully slow but steady recovery out of the Great Recession.
The Deficit
The huge Federal budget deficit that was created to help the U.S. economy crawl out of the Great Recession is shrinking faster than many people predicted, in part because of reduced Federal spending, but mostly due to significantly higher tax bills. The U.S. consumer is paying more in taxes but has also been a more prudent spender compared to the freewheeling habits of acquisition and consumption we saw only a decade ago. So the ongoing recovery will likely remain slow but steady.
Foreign Investment
With some of the world in war-torn turmoil much of the rest is experiencing economic stagnation, so it is not surprising that the U.S. is attracting lots of foreign investment money, much of which is buying companies listed on the S&P 500 index. In spite of a strong dollar (which makes the U.S. more expensive), foreigners are also buying U.S. Treasury Bonds, Real Estate, Shopping Centers or simply parking their cash here because it is the only place in the world still considered a safe haven. The U.S. economy is adjusting to the current low-interest rate and slow-growth global investing environment and we at SH&J recognize how the marketplace is changing. We continue to seek global opportunities, knowing that we can and should buy investments abroad while they are so cheap, but recognizing that we need time and patience for some of the economies to recover and ultimately reward us. As usual, we continue to balance our foreign opportunities with significant investments in all of the U.S. markets. We will continue this global approach into 2015.