Blog entries

Martone Capital Management - Weekly Investment Commentary (2/8/2012)

William A. Martone — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:37:55 +0100

The winning ways for stocks continued last week, thanks to some additional progress on the European debt crisis and a surprisingly strong January labor market report for the United States. With these gains, US stocks are within striking distance of the cyclical peak reached last April, although global stocks are still about 10% below last year's high point.

Last week's employment report was significantly stronger than expected. Payrolls rose by 243,000 last month and the unemployment l...

Getting Certified

Risa Hoag — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:56:18 +0100

It's not easy to get a Women Business Enterprise Certification. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of copying, and a lot of postage. But it can be done. After 20 years in business I decided to pursue getting our certification from New York State. I submitted the material (in a large box with plenty of tabs) at the end of November and this past Friday we were granted NYS Department of Economic Development, Division of Minority and Women's Business Development Women Owned Business Ente...

The Today Show!

Risa Hoag — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:51:34 +0100

Getting a client a full page feature article in the Daily News is a big deal. Getting that same client a coveted Cover Page story in the LoHud weekend section? A Great Big Deal! Getting that very same client a 4 minute feature on The Today Show during Christmas week!?!?!?! PRICELESS!! Oh, did I mention they were also in Westchester Family, Rockland Parent, About the Children and Hudson Valley Magazine? And did I also mention over 25,000 people have been to our client Bounce! Trampoline Sports as...

Wine Tasting to “BOOST” Entrepreneurs

Jessica Jones — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:33:46 +0100

January 31, 2012, Westchester County, NY - The Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) (www.wnfp.org) has announced that they will be hosting a fabulous “Wine Tasting and Silent Auction Fundraiser” to raise money for the formation of The BOOST Fund Foundation. The event will be held on Sunday, April 15, 2012, from 3 to 7 pm at the magnificent C.V. Rich Mansion, White Plains, New York.

Attendees will enjoy a selection of wines an...

Martone Capital Management - Weekly Investment Commentary (1/24/2012)

William A. Martone — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:49:16 +0100

The improvements in equity markets in the early weeks of 2012 are particularly notable given that stock market gains have been global in nature. In fact, the past three weeks mark the first time since 2007 that markets in the United States, Europe and China have all advanced at the beginning of a year. Despite the gains, however, it is important to point out that mutual fund flows are still showing that investors are moving out of equities, indicating that risk aversion remains high.

O...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (1/19/2012)

William A. Martone — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:33:15 +0100

Skeptics would suggest that the solid start to 2012 is little more than a typical "January effect" in which stocks tend to rise at the beginning of the year, but we think there is more to it than that. In part, we believe the upward moves of the last two weeks can be attributed to the fact that many investors (including active fund managers) came into the year underexposed to risk assets following a disappointing 2011, and who are at this point beginning to put their cash to work.

So w...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (1/10/2012)

William A. Martone — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:55:30 +0100

The first week of 2012 was a positive one for risk assets as the flow of economic releases continued to be somewhat better than expected. Markets in the United States focused on the positive last week, and looked past rising oil prices and some data from Europe showing that a recession in that region was growing increasingly likely.

Recent positive economic data includes rising levels of construction spending, better manufacturing data and, perhaps most importantly, signs of improvemen...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (1/4/2012)

William A. Martone — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:28:43 +0100

2011 was a volatile and disappointing year for most investors. Expectations entering 2011 featured a continuation of economic recovery around the world from the Great Recession, despite ongoing deleveraging and residual debt and credit concerns. Debt and credit issues, however, obviously exploded over the past year, particularly in Europe. The investment landscape was one driven by fear and anxiety and while earnings were up in most places, multiples were down, causing equity markets to strug...

Martone Capital Management - Weekly Investment Commentary (12/12/2011)

William A. Martone — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:38:23 +0100

Market action last week centered on the European summit that took place on Thursday and Friday. While no one is suggesting that the debt crisis will go away any time soon, the framework agreement that was reached has at least reduced some of the anxiety and appears to have eased the gridlock in European financial markets.

Although there are many details that still need to be worked out, it does appear that most parties in Europe are in agreement about the need to establish a more stabl...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (12/6/2011)

William A. Martone — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:08:15 +0100

After two weeks of disappointing economic and policy news that drove stock prices sharply lower, stocks witnessed a strong reversal last week. The main catalyst for the rally was a global coordinated central bank policy action designed to help banking liquidity, but markets also benefited from some improved economic data.

Last week's market action centered on the US Federal Reserve's and other central banks' announcement that they would provide coordinated action to boost the liquidity...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (11/29/2011)

William A. Martone — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:16:34 +0100

Equity markets sank sharply last week as the European debt crisis worsened and the US super committee failed to come to an agreement. Because the political problems in the United States and the crisis in Europe could result in a nearly endless array of outcomes, investors are faced with a high degree of uncertainty. As a result, unless and until more clarity emerges, markets are likely to remain somewhat trendless in the near term.

While much of the focus on the euro crisis has been on...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (11/16/2011)

William A. Martone — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:58:54 +0100

Markets continue to be dominated by the EuroZone sovereign debt crisis, with Italy replacing Greece at the center of the crisis. How this crisis plays out is not predictable, and the upcoming days and weeks continue to be important to the outcome. Leadership changes in Greece and Italy have focused investors’ concern on whether political leadership is splintering. In our view, the crisis is moving to a point that will force leaders to make hard decisions, or the markets will simply driv...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (11/8/2011)

William A. Martone — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:16:37 +0100

Notwithstanding last week's decline, stock markets have accelerated sharply since early October, and it is worth taking a step back to consider what has changed over the past month. Several weeks ago, investors were facing the dual threats of the inability of European policymakers to solve the debt crisis and what seemed to be a growing likelihood of a double-dip recession in the United States. Given that backdrop, equity risk premiums had moved sharply higher. Today, while the environment ca...

Official Launching Of Westchester Networking For Professionals Event Committee

Jessica Jones — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:37:43 +0100

Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is getting the community involved by announcing that they are organizing an Event Committee open to all professionals of Westchester County and surrounding area to be a part of all the exciting and fulfilling events planned for ...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (11/1/2011)

William A. Martone — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:13:57 +0100

Last week's announcement that European policymakers were able to come to an agreement to at least temporarily address that region's debt crisis helped stocks rally for a fourth consecutive week. Investors were also cheered by some solid US economic data that further reduced the odds that the United States would sink into a double-dip recession.

There are still some significant long-term concerns about the fiscal stability of several European countries, particularly given that overall E...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (10/17/2011)

William A. Martone — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:39:43 +0100

As last week’s market gains attest, the direction of the financial markets remains highly dependent on the degree to which politicians and policymakers can create a solution to the European debt crisis. Currently, markets are putting a great deal of faith in the possibility that such a solution will come to pass even though the efforts have fallen short before.

At present, policymakers are attempting to engineer a “ring fence” around banks and troubled sovereign natio...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (10/14/2011)

William A. Martone — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:20:26 +0100

The volatile trading pattern continued last week, with markets rebounding somewhat from the previous week’s declines. Investor sentiment benefitted from some better-than-expected economic data (including the September payrolls report) and a sense that European policymakers were making some progress on moves to recapitalize the banking system.

Although the US economy is still quite troubled, last week’s data was generally stronger than expected. Data from the auto industry, ...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (8/4/2011)

William A. Martone — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:48:50 +0100

The final week of the third quarter was again a highly volatile one, with markets generally moving higher early in the week before succumbing to weakness.

The global financial stresses that have been contributing to market volatility have shown no signs of easing. Financial markets have been signaling that economic growth levels are too weak to support the current financial structure. ...

Martone Capital Management - Investment Commentary (9/27/2011)

William A. Martone — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:42:34 +0100

It looks to us as if stocks are now pricing in a greater-than-50% chance that the United States enters into a recession. The economic data has been inconsistent at best. The labor market has certainly taken a turn for the worse in recent months and housing remains a source of weakness. While there is no real evidence that the housing market has started to recover, we do think it is in the process of finding some sort of floor. In contrast, the corporate sector as a whole has been a source of ...

Get Out!

Risa Hoag — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:49:07 +0100

If you're like me, you've been around these parts for quite some time! That means you have seen plenty of business swings, highs and lows, ups and downs. Hard to tell which one we're in now! Perhaps that's because I'm extremely busy but it does seem like things have shifted and the "busy" is different than it used to be. Do you feel the same way?

Something else we may have in common is that we used to network alot or should I say A LOT!!! I was the president of the Westchester Associat...