I thought I would take just a moment to let everyone know that we have been watching the market closely. It looks like the long upward sprint the market has taken over the last 4 months might be coming to a pause.

This is not unusual at all; billions of dollars have been fed into the capital markets over the last 4 months as the veil of uncertainly about taxes and fiscal policy has been lifted. Pension funds and individual investors have flooded the stock markets and stock mutual funds with more dollars this past quarter than we've seen in a long, long time. Wall Street's traders have seen their target prices for stocks met, exceeded, and exceeded again. In general, the economic data we've see reported has been mostly positive, with just enough bad news to remind us that the stock market still has its dangers, but not enough to get investors worried that another recession is around the corner.

So, with the information we have at present, it looks like we are in for a regular, run-of-the-mill correction of about 3 to 7%. This happens, on average, 3 times per year, and is the normal breathing of a healthy and functioning market.

It is important to keep in mind that large, painful, and excessively long bear markets typically occur only during times of great economic upset (Great Depression, Great Recession, Tech Bubble Burst, Oil Embargo). We are monitoring all of our indicators and have far better warning systems in place than existed in 2007 and 2008, and expect to be able to sidestep a great deal of the damage that those "Perfect Storms" tend to dish out. At this time, Recession Alert(TM) places the odds of the United States economy entering a recession within the next 6 months at only 6.4% - indicating that the stock market remains the best place to be for investors trying to stay ahead of taxes and beat inflation.

However, unexpected or "surprise" events can turn a normal 5% correction into an abrupt harsh 20% correction. This occurs every 3-4 years, on average. Good examples are the stock market "crash" of 1987, the breakout of Desert Storm, minor recessions, the downgrading of the US debt in 2011, and other geopolitical occurrences. Currently, we have two primary concerns that would fall into this category - the prospective bailout of Cyprus (and the EU issues that seem to never end), and the possibility of Kim Jong-Un actually engaging in real military conflict for no apparent reason other than to appear as a strong leader to his people.

The risk of military conflict does not lie in Korea's ability to hurt the US; that risk is minimal from a military confrontation perspective. While the North enjoys a huge advantage over the South in artillery abilities, those abilities would likely be quickly eradicated by the overwhelming air superiority the US and the South enjoys. The real risk lies in the possibility of China, South Korea, or Japan entering any such the conflict and creating massive instability in the Far East. I believe that China would likely rather see peace in the region, but so far, they have taken a wait-and-see approach.

Whatever happens, we will remain vigilant and observe events as they develop. Ultimately, I believe that normal market functions will continue and am very optimistic about some of the developments we see occurring within our economy - especially in the areas of energy production, rail, manufacturing, home-building, and electronic medical records. I feel it is likely that the decade-long "Secular Bear Market" we have been mired in for the last several years is approaching an end, and that now is a great time to be a long-term investor! However, it remains important to make sure that investors are aware of their risk tolerances - and that portfolios are constructed properly in order to weather those occasional unexpected thunderstorm that can blow in rapidly and give us an uncomfortable bump now and then.

 S&P500 1 Year Chart