Market Watch with Tom Waitt

February_1st_2012.mp3 Clear and Sunny    Here comes the sun, the ice is slowly melting, it seems like years since it's been clear, the Beatles forecasted the current thaw of pessimism that has enveloped media and market pundits alike. Growth and profits are occurring south of our border. U.S. GDP Growth Rate (Click For Larger Picture) The panic that set in on the 2008 subprime mortgage meltdown caused stocks to crash down and left investors losing a decade of performance. Fears elevated to panic levels with media and market pundits suggesting a repeat of the great depression. Despite recent media attention and suggestions that we are headed into a recession which would be two quarters of negative GDP growth. The facts do not support that call. The recession ended in 2009 current growth is positive and the recent activity is influenced by businesses posting record earnings. So far in 2012 we have U.S. stocks measured by the S&P 500 index up 5.5% trading today at 1327.18. A