Safehaven | Last Weeks Markets: Helping Assess What Might Be Ahead

July 04, 2005

Last Weeks Markets: Helping Assess What Might Be Ahead
by Douglas R. Gillespie

Foreword

"Last Week" is an examination of the week that was in the financial markets, in an effort to help assess the prospects for the week(s) that will be.

Summary

Because of the long weekend here in the United States, leading into a four-day trading week ahead, I'm going to keep this edition of "Last Week" purposely brief.

There were certain aspects of the year's first half that I think will prove accurately telltale for the financial markets during the balance of the year. For instance, I suspect the lackluster performance of the stock market is a portent of materially worse performance ahead.

On the other hand, the on-balance behavior of interest rates and the dollar during 2005's first six months may be quite different from what is in store for those markets in the months ahead.

Something else that appears festering for a turn or two for the worse in the period ahead is the geopolitical landscape. I can easily foresee coming problems in US-China relations, and the situation in Iraq clearly is not conforming well to domestic political pressures that will surely begin to increasingly manifest themselves as next year's midterm election draws closer. Continue to Gillespie Research for the balance of the essay: http://www.gillespieresearch.com/cgi-bin/s/article/id=594

Douglas R. Gillespie, Sr.
Gillespie Research Associates
165 Sheridan Avenue
HO-HO-KUS, NJ 07423
201-447-5743

Doug Gillespie oversees his own financial-market and economic consulting firm, Gillespie Research Associates. For a complimentary sample of Dougs material, e-mail him at drgillespiesr@aol.com.