(PRWEB) January 29, 2012

BadCreditInstallmentLoans.com announces the launch of its redesigned consumer-lending site, featuring a sleek, new user-interface and simplified online application. While the nation?s job market remains anemic, the need for payday loans and cash advances continues to grow. The updated website provides a no-cost online loan-application service designed to help consumers with lower credit scores, now making it even easier to apply and be pre-approved for loans of $ 100 – $ 1,500. The entire process ? from application through fund disbursement ? can now be accomplished from the privacy of a home computer.

?Overreaction to the sub-prime housing crisis has caused many lenders to pull back from offering loans at a time when consumers need them the most,? stated company spokesperson Oliver Braxton. ?Our new site fills a void for working people, helping them access the kind of short-term loans needed to pay for a necessary vehicle repair or put food on the family table.?

At the new Bad Credit Installment Loans website, an applicant?s past isn?t an issue. Instead of a credit-history evaluation, the site requires only minimal qualifications such as age (18 years old or older); United States citizenship or legal residency; a checking account in the borrower?s name; as well as home and work contact information. The borrower?s regular paycheck serves as the loan?s security, requiring applicants to be employed for at least 90 days while earning a minimum of $ 1,000/mo.

The company doesn?t inquire into why its customers are requesting loans; instead, it works to match prospective borrowers with lenders in their area through proprietary software. Lenders compete for the borrower?s business via an online marketplace, giving the advantage to the consumer in finding the best loan rates and terms. There?s no cost to the borrower to submit an online application, and they are free to halt the process at any time without obligation.

The updated website provides faster turnaround times ? most borrowers with steady employment can be approved in minutes, and after e-signing the lender?s contract, they can receive their loan funds within 24 hours via direct deposit.

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(PRWEB) January 27, 2012

No Fax Payday Loans is proud to announce the re-launch of its site. The re-launch includes new, free educational resources, a fast online application, and an redesign of the homepage. It is not uncommon for a family to need quick cash at some point, in which case No Fax Payday Loans can help. Anyone in need of fast money is encouraged to check out what this site has to offer, all for free.

?When planning how to revamp our site, we took every step to ensure we went above and beyond industry standards to create an outstanding consumer experience,? says No Fax Payday Loans spokesperson James Best. ?This includes an easy, straightforward application process, expertly written educational resources, and a user friendly redesign of the homepage. Working in conjunction with one another, these new features all help consumers get the emergency cash they need in the most responsible, convenient way possible.?

The online application at No Fax Payday Loans is 100 percent secure and can be completed in minutes with only a modicum of required information. Site users can simply fill out the amount of money they need, which can range from $ 100 to $ 1500. The website will then generate a list of lenders willing to loan that amount of money to borrowers, who can browse the listing. Site users can look over the interest rate and conditions provided by each lender before accepting the offer.

Once a particular lender is chosen, users just have to prove that they are at least 18 years old, a legal citizen or resident of the U.S., and employed for at least the last 90 days. As long as they meet these requirements, and also make at least $ 1000 per month after taxes, they should be able to qualify for a loan.

In order to keep consumers as informed as possible throughout the loan process, full disclosure of loan terms will always occur prior to any obligation to taking out a loan. Beyond that, the new educational resources posted to the site allow readers to learn more in-depth information concerning how to take advantage of their loan funds, how rates and fees are decided, and other helpful information.

After a borrower is approved for a loan, he or she can expect to have the money in the bank within the next business day. It is not necessary to leave the house during the entire process, even to get the mail or cash a check at the bank, as the money is directly deposited into the checking account.

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Irvine, CA (PRWEB) January 27, 2012

ProconGPS Inc., a leading service provider of asset management solutions for businesses worldwide, today launched an enhanced new website for LoanPlus CMS?, the company?s advanced Collateral Management System (CMS) for automotive lenders. The new website can be viewed at http://www.loanplus.com.

LoanPlus CMS combines the latest advancements in Mobile Resource Management (MRM) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology to provide lenders access to a full suite of customizable tools for continuous real-time monitoring of assets as well as improved risk management for subprime auto loans. Lenders using LoanPlus CMS increase their collections by up to four times, which in turn allows them to price their loans more competitively. The new LoanPlus CMS website is better designed to communicate this return on investment.

?We redesigned the LoanPlus website to be more user-centric, easy to navigate and functional for subprime automotive lenders and credit unions,? explains Jim Giammarco, Executive Vice President of ProconGPS. ?Site visitors will now quickly be able to learn about the features and benefits of LoanPlus CMS designed to drive the performance of their loan portfolios and price loan more competitively.?

Key features of the new LoanPlus CMS website include:

(PRWEB) January 25, 2012

DirectDepositLoan.com announces the re-launch of its newly redesigned consumer lending site, featuring an improved application portal and user-interface. The new site makes it even easier for consumers to obtain financial relief through a quick, convenient and secure direct deposit loan. While the country continues its slow economic recovery, the updated site provides hope for Americans struggling with their own financial crisis.

?DirectDepositLoan.com is a one-stop resource for consumers who need a short-term loan, but who don?t have the luxury of waiting for a bank to approve their application,? says DirectDepositLoan.com spokesperson Kevin Hannah. ?We take every precaution to safeguard users’ personal information while connecting them with an extensive network of reputable lenders.?

The updated DirectDepositLoan.com offers borrowers of all income levels a simple, convenient online application that can be completed in five minutes. There?s no credit check required at any time in the direct deposit loan process. Once the brief online application form is submitted, the site?s network of lenders returns a list of potential loan products based on the borrower?s needs and financial information. Visitors to the new DirectDepositLoan.com are under no obligation to accept any loan, and anyone is free to complete the application without fear of being locked into an unappealing rate. Users? personal financial information is safely encrypted during the application process.

Unlike a traditional bank loan, DirectDepositLoan.com provides the fastest way for consumers to get the money they need when they need it. The application and approval process can be completed within minutes and, once approved, lenders will deposit needed funds into the borrower?s checking account within 24 hours ? much quicker than any bank or credit union can deliver.

And while banks and credit unions adhere to typical bankers? hours, DirectDepositLoan.com?s network of lenders is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Consumers can browse loan offers online from home or work without the hassle of driving to a storefront lender, where the stress of waiting in line and filling out paperwork often pushes borrowers to accept the first loan offered, rather than comparison shopping for better rates across town.

While the national economy remains in flux, consumers? personal finances don?t have to. The new DirectDepositLoan.com consumer lending website gives cash-strapped households a way to take control of their finances today.

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Montreal, QC (PRWEB) January 25, 2012

Silanis, the leader in enterprise electronic signature solutions with the largest e-signature deployments, announces that several strategic wins throughout 2011 confirm the company is the number one e-signature choice for banks and lenders.

Four of North America?s top 10 banks, as measured by assets, have now standardized on Silanis e-Sign Enterprise? across multiple lines of business, with three becoming customers in the last nine months of the year. They join many other top lenders and captive financers for auto, heavy equipment and student lending, including BMW Group Financial Services, who use Silanis for their enterprise e-signing needs.

These leading institutions have entrusted e-signing of their core customer transactions to Silanis. As a single platform for multi-channel enterprise needs, Silanis? e-signature solution now processes hundreds of millions of transactions annually through various channels, including in-branch, call center, field representative and online.

?The growing momentum for e-signatures in the banking and lending sectors is largely due to customer-facing business transformation initiatives and tightening regulatory and legislative requirements,? said Tommy Petrogiannis, Silanis CEO and co-founder. ?Consumers expect banks to transact in any channel with speed and efficiency, and e-signatures are the key to transforming customer experience. The challenge is creating a better experience without introducing risk.?

E-signatures ? and more specifically, enterprise-class e-signatures ? help mitigate risk by providing substantially more evidence than paper, recording the web screens presented during a transaction and capturing a record of all actions taken by a signer.

Banks are therefore certifying and evaluating e-signatures based on enterprise requirements ? primarily the ability to scale across different lines of business and adopt a consistent approach across all transactions. The Silanis e-signature platform is a true enterprise solution for financial services in that it offers a flexible e-signature framework to support the unique requirements of individual lines of business and processes. The solution manages e-signature transactions from end to end, scales to massive volumes, integrates with existing systems, and provides strong legal evidence in the event of a customer dispute.

Silanis is the only enterprise e-signature choice for financial services organizations, as evidenced by the following:

Deepest experience with top-tier banks and lenders: Four of North America?s 10 largest banks have standardized enterprise-wide on Silanis, whose total financial services customer base has combined assets of more than US$ 4.5 trillion.
Highest volume of transactions processed: Silanis customers are using e-Sign Enterprise to process hundreds of millions of documents annually. One customer alone uses Silanis to electronically process over 10 million documents for new account openings per year and an average 40,000 retail transactions per day.
Largest deployments of e-signatures: The single largest implementation of e-signatures for consumer and small business loans in North America is powered by Silanis.
Most financial products signed: Silanis? solutions are being used to automate the broadest range of customer transactions, including disclosures; consumer, small business, auto and student loans; account openings; consumer and merchant credit retail contracts; wealth management products; and more.
Strongest electronic evidence: The electronic evidence captured by Silanis? patented Process Reviewer? has saved customers millions of dollars in litigation costs, and helped them avoid costly penalties and settlements. Document and process-level evidence help reliably re-create the details of a transaction and how a document was e-signed.
Proven ROI: Organizations with an enterprise strategy for e-signatures, e-documents and e-transactions are gaining real results, rapid ROI and competitive advantage, while lowering total cost of ownership. Some highlights:

1) Consumer Loans: For consumer and small business loan applications, one leading bank used Silanis e-signatures to automate the processing of 2,000+ loans per day, reducing loan exceptions by 90% and redeploying more than 95,000 hours of bankers? time for sales activities rather than chasing paper.

2) Mortgage Applications: For mortgage applications, one lender used Silanis? online signatures to reduce the loan application process from a week to 24 hours; now over 90% of their loans are completed electronically and they have increased loan volume by 34%.

3) Student Loans: A leading student loan authority reduced loan approvals from an average 10 days to mere hours. They experienced a 99% adoption rate online, fixed abandonment rates and became more competitive ? while remaining paperless from the initial application to the e-vaulting of promissory notes.

4) Retail Contracting: A leading global payments provider chose Silanis to shorten the time to process merchant contracts from four weeks down to hours, thereby getting new merchants set up and transacting faster. In the competitive credit services industry, closing new merchants quickly is a priority.

5) Disclosures: For many bank processes, the secure delivery of e-disclosures has become an underpinning e-signature application area because of regulations such as the RESPA72-hour requirement. Silanis equips financial institutions to meet regulatory requirements for secure e-disclosure delivery.

About Silanis

Silanis is the most widely used e-signature solution in the world, processing over 600 million documents annually. Since the company was founded in 1992, our solutions have strengthened the business processes of thousands of organizations, including four of the top 10 North American banks, eight of the top 10 insurance companies and the entire US Army, among others. Companies and government organizations around the globe depend on Silanis to accelerate business transactions, improve customer experience and reduce costs while improving compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. Silanis? on-premise, cloud and SaaS e-signature solutions eliminate manual, paper-based processing and enable e-commerce and e-government transactions to be electronically executed from start to finish.

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Washington, DC (PRWEB) January 24, 2012

Generation Opportunity today said that while young Americans are being courted and encouraged by the White House to listen to the State of the Union address this evening and to pose questions to administration officials through social media, young adults and their friends will actually be listening more closely for what represents either a true change of course or more rhetoric in defense of the status quo. After being unfairly and negatively impacted by 35 consecutive months of a national unemployment rate that is above 8 percent, young adults are very dissatisfied with leadership in Washington, the direction of the country, and policies that have put them at a disadvantage due to the resulting lack of economic opportunities.

?Tonight, young Americans will be listening for a substantive, immediate change of course for America. While they invested heavily in the promises and hope this President offered them in 2008, the reality is that the results do not match the rhetoric.

?Promises of expanded opportunity have instead ushered in record levels of opportunity denied ? historic levels of government involvement in the private sector are denying millions of young Americans the opportunity to access the private sector through jobs, denying them skills and paychecks, denying them the promise of the future, and denying the country the benefit of their creativity and talent,? said Paul T. Conway, president of Generation Opportunity and former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of Labor.

?It is not fair that over 3 in 4 Millennials now say they have or must delay their dreams and plans for the future due to the dire state of the economy. They are not interested in more rhetoric and long speeches. This generation cannot wait any longer. They are experiencing first-hand the results of failed leadership and policy ? to them, the impact on their lives and futures is real and not simply a talking point or statistic.?

Nearly half of young Americans ages 18-29 are unsatisfied with their current level of employment, just 31% approve of President Obama?s handling of youth unemployment, and an overwhelming 69% say the current leadership in Washington fails to reflect the interests of the younger generation according to Generation Opportunity?s national poll of Millennials (Commissioned by Generation Opportunity with the polling company Inc./Woman Trend, April 16-22, 2011, +/-4% Margin of Error) and reinforced by subsequent polls by other non-partisan organizations such as the Harvard Institute of Politics (IOP).

Millennials: Washington is Out of Touch

Louisville, KY (PRWEB) January 21, 2012

Since childhood, Cliff Ricketts has had a passion for finding a way to fuel engines with hydrogen derived from water. As a professor of agriscience at Middle Tennessee State University, he?s been working on various alternative fuels for the better part of 35 years, coming ever closer to his ultimate goal.

Now, thanks to a $ 15,000 grant from Farm Credit Services of Mid-America which triggered matching funds from the University, Ricketts and a group of student volunteers will be making a coast-to-coast trip during spring break in a car powered only by hydrogen, solar energy, and ten gallons of cellulosic ethanol.

?This research has some direct implications for American agriculture, and that?s why I appreciate Farm Credit?s donation,? said Ricketts. ?We wouldn?t be able to make this trip without their assistance.?

Jack Swanson, Assistant Vice President for Farm Credit, presenting a $ 15,000 check to Dr. Cliff Ricketts, Professor of Agricultural Education, Middle Tennessee State University for the fuel research program.

The trip will begin in early March in Savannah, GA in a converted Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid. On each 750-mile leg of the trip, the first 100 miles will be powered by solar energy, followed by 200 miles of hydrogen gas power. The next 350 miles will be fueled by 85 percent cellulosic ethanol, with the last 100 miles coming from on-board regeneration of the solar-powered batteries. Then the car will be refilled with hydrogen and re-charged solar batteries from an accompanying mobile refueling station that is loaded on a truck and trailer manned by the students. Five days later the car and support crew will roll into Long Beach, CA. ?I figure we?ll average about 60 miles per hour, ?said Ricketts. ?A car powered by hydrogen runs just as well as one powered by gasoline.?

Although Ricketts? research has obvious broad implications, the original motivation for it began in 1978 during the Iranian hostage situation and resulting energy crisis, when it was feared that American farmers might not have fuel to harvest their crops. He originally started experimenting with ethanol, then moved on to methane that had been derived from cow manure, then to biodiesel. In 1987, he finally was able start a Briggs & Stratton engine with hydrogen that had been obtained from a process called electrolysis. Subsequent research led to the development of a car that set a land speed record for hydrogen-powered vehicles on Utah?s Bonneville Salt Flats in 1992, a record that stood for 15 years. (Incidentally, this car was sponsored by the Murfreesboro PCA, a forerunner of Farm Credit Services).

Ricketts readily acknowledges that producing hydrogen from water is not yet price competitive with gasoline, but he feels that in times of national emergencies it could serve as a viable backup source of energy. Correspondingly, he feels that his research has important implications for international peace, the American economy, the environment, and national security.

One of Ricketts? former student volunteers is Jack Swanson, now an assistant vice president for Farm Credit, based out of the ag lending cooperative?s Lebanon, TN field office. Swanson can still readily identify with his current-day counterparts.

?Those students aren?t receiving any money or grades for helping with this project,? said Swanson. ?They do it because they like Doc and the research he does.?

In a twist of fate, Swanson later became the lending officer for Ricketts, who raises beef cattle on the side and whose family has received a Heritage Farm Award as 50-year, third-generation Farm Credit customers. In the course of doing business, Swanson would always ask his old prof about his family and his research, and learned of Ricketts? need for funding for this phase of the project.

?When I heard about it, I couldn?t think of anything that would be a better use of our stewardship funds,? said Swanson. ?I feel our stewardship program is one of the more important things we do as an agricultural lender, and the crux of Dr. Ricketts? program is to help make the U.S. energy independent. It?s part of our mission to give back some of our earnings to those programs that fuel the future of agriculture.?

Although running coast to coast on nothing but hydrogen, sun and ethanol will be a real shining moment, Ricketts has plans to top that in the summer of 2013, making the same trip on hydrogen from water and solar power alone. ?No goals, no glory,? he smiled.

About Farm Credit Services of Mid-America

Farm Credit Services of Mid-America is a $ 18 billion financial services cooperative serving over 92,500 farmers, agribusinesses and rural residents in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee. The association provides loans for all farm and rural living purposes including including real estate, operating loans,equipment loans, and housing loans. FCS also provides an array of financial services, including crop insurance and leases. For more information about Farm Credit, call 1-800-444-FARM or visit them on the web at http://www.e-farmcredit.com.

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Houston, Texas (PRWEB) January 20, 2012

Janet Vaughan Robertson has joined the Houston office of Haynes and Boone, LLP as of counsel in the Public Law Practice Group.

?As the size and complexity of public law projects and disputes continues to grow, we look to recruit experienced legal professionals with knowledge in both the public and private sector,? said Partner Casey Wallace, chair of the Public Law Practice Group. ?Janet is just that, and we are excited to have her joining our team of talented lawyers.?

In addition to serving as bond counsel, underwriter counsel, credit bank counsel, borrower counsel, and issuer counsel in connection with multi-million dollar municipal and conduit bond issues, Robertson?s work in public finance includes providing taxable and tax-exempt financing for charter schools, hospitals, health care facilities, continuous care retirement communities, cultural facilities, various industrial development facilities, and other issuers located throughout Texas and the United States.

In addition, she has substantial experience in banking and lending, securities law, project finance, private placements, asset securitizations (including issuance of nonconsolidation and true sale opinions), all forms of secured transactions (real, personal and mixed collateral), mortgage warehouse lending, repurchase agreements, interest rate swaps and loan workouts.

Robertson received her bachelor?s degree with high honors from the University of Texas and juris doctorate from the University of Houston Law Center.

About Haynes and Boone

Haynes and Boone, LLP is an international corporate law firm with offices in Texas, New York, California, Washington, D.C., Mexico City and Moscow, providing a full spectrum of legal services. With more than 525 attorneys, Haynes and Boone is ranked among the largest law firms in the nation by The National Law Journal. The firm has been named one of the “Best Corporate Law Firms in America” (Corporate Board Member Magazine, 2001-2011) and recognized as a ?Top 20 Law Firm? for culture and for diversity with respect to both women and minorities (Vault, 2012). For more information, visit http://www.haynesboone.com.

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White Plains, NY (PRWEB) January 17, 2012

Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company, Inc. (Guaranteed, http://www.ghmc.com), a national residential mortgage investment and banking firm, today announced a new initiative to assist Asian-Americans in more easily gaining access to commercial finance and achieving the dream of home ownership.

The initiative includes a sustained outreach effort and the hiring of two mortgage professionals, Steven Ho and Ginny Chin, to interface and provide advice to individuals and entities in targeted communities in the New York metro region. They were chosen for their industry experience, language skills and ties to underserved communities.

David Wind, President of Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company, said, ?Asian-Americans have contributed to our country in many ways, and our initiative is designed to address some of their unique needs in adapting to our cultural and economic norms. Steven and Ginny?s background and expertise in the mortgage industry are ideally suited to working with and assisting Asian-Americans achieve the American dream of purchasing and owning one?s own home.?

Wind went on to detail some of their experience. Mr. Ho previously served as a branch manager for a competing mortgage firm, where he supervised and instructed a team of loan originators with his extensive knowledge of various loan products. While there, he achieved a consistent sales volume of $ 2.5 to $ 3 million in loan originations.

Ms. Chin has spent nearly 10 years working in the mortgage industry as a loan originator specializing in FHA, conforming and non-conforming refinances and new home purchases. She has prepared customers? loan packages, interacted with attorneys, and handled the paperwork and coordination necessary to close loans.

Mr. Ho and Ms. Chin will work together to identify needs, prepare campaigns and provide solutions to ensure Asian Americans receive every opportunity to own their own homes, gain access to commercial finance sources and achieve upward social mobility in our society. Guaranteed?s initiative will also go beyond home ownership and commercial finance by encouraging prudent financial planning and lifelong education.

Founded in 1992, Guaranteed has continued to grow rapidly since its inception, bucking the current trend in the industry at large. It was listed in the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in the nation and maintains a weekly blog at http://www.joinguaranteed.com/blog with advice both for homebuyers and mortgage professionals.

For more information, please contact Kelley Berkheiser at 914-696-3400, or write Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company, Inc., 108 Corporate Park Drive, Suite 301, White Plains, NY 10604.

About Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company

Founded in 1992, Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company (Guaranteed), a licensed mortgage investment and banking firm, is comprised of more than 180 mortgage professionals lending in 27 states. The company, previously named in the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing companies in the United States, provides residential mortgage financing to a wide variety of consumers and real estate professionals.

David Wind, an attorney, is Principal and President of Guaranteed. Previously, he served as a financial analyst of mortgage-backed securities at Citicorp Investment Bank and clerked in the real estate finance department of the New York State Attorney General?s Office.

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Southfield, Michigan (PRWEB) January 15, 2012

U.S. Overview

Economy

The domestic economy demonstrated some remarkable resilience in the fourth quarter as GDP continued to expand and the unemployment rate continued to decline. These improvements were all the more impressive in light of the many headwinds this economy faced: European sovereign debt crisis, slowing economies in the emerging markets, a downgrade for our US Treasury debt, and a complete lack of fiscal support due to the ongoing dysfunction in Washington. Imagine the results we could have achieved had one or more of those headwinds been resolved.

We?ve been of the belief for more than two years now that this economic recovery would be one characterized by fits and starts rather than the ?new normal? belief that it would simply be low and slow growth. This past year certainly proved that point and we suspect 2012 will do it again. The headwinds facing the economy are real and not likely to go away any time soon. The European Union has announced at least 5 ?solutions? to their debt crisis in the past couple years?none of which have actually solved anything. The US downgrade speaks to the mounting debts being assumed by the government?the economy isn?t deleveraging, it?s simply shifting the leverage from households and financial institutions to the federal government. We expect little fiscal support from Washington prior to the November elections as the two parties are clearly at a philosophical impasse.

We expect 2012 to be very similar to 2011. The economy might be able to ride the recent momentum for another quarter, but lacking a resolution to some of these headwinds we suspect the middle quarters will be sluggish. The fourth quarter should see an improvement in growth and employment as the November elections bring renewed hope for the economy.

Inflation

We expect the Federal Reserve will initiate another round of quantitative easing in the first half of 2012 as economic conditions deteriorate once again. Such an action will have the effect of devaluing the dollar and increasing commodity prices. Offsetting those rising commodity prices will be at least one more year of declines in residential real estate.

Interest Rates

Short-term interest rates will remain low for some time. The Federal Reserve has committed to keeping them low until at least mid-2013?we suspect it could be even longer than that. Should the Fed initiate a third round of quantitative easing the intent will be to lower longer-term borrowing rates?as noted above, we expect that to happen in the first half of 2012.

Domestic Equity Markets

If a weak dollar is good for domestic equities then a strengthening dollar is likely to have the opposite effect. While the European sovereign debt contagion may not pose a direct threat to domestic banks and corporations, slowing economic growth in Europe and Asia will definitely impact revenue growth for domestic companies. Overall, corporate earnings have remained strong and should limit the market?s downside risk, but we don?t anticipate the outsized earnings growth that we saw the past couple years. A major positive for the domestic equity market is the amount of money on the sidelines?any significant declines in valuations will likely be met with renewed buying interest.

Domestic Bond Market

We expect interest rates to remain low for some time and if the Federal Reserve initiates another round of quantitative easing longer-term rates could even go lower?that?s a good environment for bonds. Unfortunately, bond yields are already very low and hard to get excited about. Non-traditional fixed income securities such as senior bank loans, convertible bonds and preferred stocks continue to provide the most attractive risk/reward characteristics. Corporate bond yield spreads relative to US Treasury debt remain attractive particularly when one considers the increasing supply of US Treasury debt relative to corporate debt. In our tax-exempt portfolios we continue to emphasize higher quality issuers as declining property values and tax bases are having an adverse effect on many state and local municipalities.

International Overview

Economy

Europe is a mess and we doubt the Continent can avoid a recession. An economic slowdown in Europe will directly impact growth rates for the emerging market economies. Longer-term we expect the emerging markets and the emerging middle class within those markets to drive global growth but the next 6-12 months could be challenging.

Inflation

Given the Euro Zone?s austerity measures, we believe that deflation poses an even greater risk in the developed international markets than it does in the U.S. In the emerging markets, where the economic growth rates are higher, we would expect that growth to be accompanied by higher inflationary expectations.

Interest Rates

We expect the sovereign credit risk issue to remain an investor concern in the months (maybe years) ahead. As we speculated in our last Global Outlook, the bond vigilantes did in fact put upward pressure on bond yields in Italy, Portugal, Spain and even France. Until the European Union has a viable solution to this crisis we can expect to see continued upward pressure on longer-term rates, but we do expect that the austerity measures will eventually serve as an effective counterbalance to that pressure. Based on our outlook for higher inflation rates in the emerging markets, we would expect interest rates in those countries to trend higher. International bonds offer higher yields than comparably rated domestic debt but they are also fraught with greater risks, many of which are difficult to quantify.

Currencies

The dollar remains the unquestioned global reserve currency. This is particularly evident in times of global turmoil such as we?ve witnessed with each round of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Until the crisis is resolved we would expect the dollar to strengthen and the Euro to decline. However, if the European Union does finally arrive at a viable solution we would expect the dollar to resume its long-term devaluation trend versus both developed and emerging markets. The U.S. has actively pursued an inflationary monetary stimulus policy whereas the rest of the developed world is pursuing deflationary austerity measures.

Natural Resources

For the past two years, as the dollar goes, so go the prices of commodities?except in the opposite direction. Longer-term we believe limited supply and rising global demand will naturally drive prices higher, regardless of how the dollar performs.

Global Equity Markets

We would continue to underweight most developed international markets as the growth prospects in most of those economies remain stagnant. Emerging markets, which have been under pressure for the past year, are beginning to reach attractive valuation levels.

Global Bond Markets

While we remain concerned about the cascading sovereign credit risk crisis, we believe current yield levels offered by some of the non-Euro Zone issuers compensate investors for those risks. Longer term we believe foreign government bonds will outperform U.S. Treasury bonds due to their higher yields and less inflationary central bank policies.

Jim Robinson CEO & CIO?Telemus Capital Partners

Disclaimers

Telemus Investment Management, LLC, Telemus Wealth Advisors, LLC, and Beacon Investment Company, LLC, registered investment advisors, are wholly-owned affiliates of Telemus Capital Partners, LLC. Telemus Investment Brokers, LLC, member FINRA and SIPC, is a wholly-owned affiliate of Telemus Capital Partners, LLC

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