Sage Advice Quarterly Market Review 2Q2003

Every once in a while, the financial markets seem to disconnect from economic reality. Is this another of those times? Certainly, the data emanating from Washington and elsewhere paint a pretty dismal picture of the economy. Factories are suffering through another recession-like plunge in activity, the job market continues to deteriorate, the construction industry is withering under high commercial vacancy rates as well as excess industrial capacity, and consumers are reining in spending on big-ticket items, including autos despite their attractive five-year zero-percent financing incentives. The 1.4 and 1.6% growth rates in real GDP over the past two quarters were the weakest back-to-back quarters outside of a recession in eight years.