Sgt Beavis
09-20-2008, 09:45 AM
Things might suck for the rest of the country, but Texas could very well weather this storm fairly well....
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6010455.html
Texas gets some plus marks
State can outperform nation during crisis, experts say
By L.A. LOREK San Antonio Express-news
Sept. 18, 2008, 10:18PM
Wall Street's woes will sting Texas, but the state will fare better through the turmoil than the rest of the nation, financial experts said Thursday.
"It's a bizarre market," said Steve Scurlock, executive vice president of Austin-based Independent Bankers Association of Texas. "This is the dark side of free market capitalism. It occasionally moves to excesses."
In Texas, 40 to 50 banks are going to take some losses related to the financial crisis, but they won't be critically hurt, Scurlock said.
On balance, Texas' economy will likely grow a bit more slowly than in recent years but is healthy enough to far outperform the national average, Fritz Meyer, senior market strategist for Houston-based Invesco Aim, wrote in an e-mail.
Fears from the financial crisis eased a bit Thursday as the Dow Jones industrial average registered one of its best days since 2002.
Yet the huge market fluctuations lately have everyone shook up. The concerns stem from the uncertainty surrounding the financial markets and the government's historic bailouts for AIG, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The important thing is to keep people from panicking, said Gary Houle, chairman of the Financial Planning Association of Houston.
"It's best to stick to your financial plans and goals and not react to the market," Houle said. "Nobody knows what is going to happen tomorrow. It could get better, but it could get worse."
The U.S. has entered an era of uncertainty, said John Merrill, chief investment officer with Tanglewood Wealth Management in Houston.
He advises clients "it's better to be safe than sorry," so he has moved them into U.S. Treasury bonds and "steady-eddies" — blue-chip stocks with solid balance sheets.
"In virtually every bear market, investors are going to be nervous," he said. "It's not like we haven't been here before. The good news is the underpinnings of the economy look sound."
Yet some big financial institutions with large Texas holdings continue to face difficult conditions.
Wachovia is in merger talks with Morgan Stanley. Washington Mutual is reportedly looking for a buyer. The institutions insisted that they will continue with business as usual.
The Treasury Department continues to work with the Federal Reserve to stabilize the financial markets, said Dick Evans, CEO of San Antonio-based Frost Bank.
"What's important is to help reassure the public that there is an orderly function of absorbing these drops in value across the country," Evans said.
Meanwhile, Frost, which exited the mortgage business several years ago, has not experienced the bad debt problems plaguing other institutions, he said. Despite the problems on Wall Street, Evans said, "we can walk down Main Street in any of the great cities in Texas and feel comfortable."
Texas did not have large increases in home prices and the state continues to have 1.5 percent job growth, he said.
"Any time you're creating jobs, you are solving a lot of issues," he said.
In Texas, the economy is performing well especially in the energy, high-tech, residential and commercial markets, said Nathaniel Karp, economist for Compass Bank.
Houston is doing well even though Hurricane Ike threw it a bit of a curve, and the residential real estate market is healthy, said Steve Dufilho, president of Compass Bank San Antonio.
"Markets have booms and markets have busts," said Dick Cancelmo, portfolio manager for Bridgeway Funds in Houston. "If you want to invest in the equities market, you have to have a 20-year investment frame."
"Stay the course. It's going to be a long course. We've got ourselves into a mess."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6010455.html
Texas gets some plus marks
State can outperform nation during crisis, experts say
By L.A. LOREK San Antonio Express-news
Sept. 18, 2008, 10:18PM
Wall Street's woes will sting Texas, but the state will fare better through the turmoil than the rest of the nation, financial experts said Thursday.
"It's a bizarre market," said Steve Scurlock, executive vice president of Austin-based Independent Bankers Association of Texas. "This is the dark side of free market capitalism. It occasionally moves to excesses."
In Texas, 40 to 50 banks are going to take some losses related to the financial crisis, but they won't be critically hurt, Scurlock said.
On balance, Texas' economy will likely grow a bit more slowly than in recent years but is healthy enough to far outperform the national average, Fritz Meyer, senior market strategist for Houston-based Invesco Aim, wrote in an e-mail.
Fears from the financial crisis eased a bit Thursday as the Dow Jones industrial average registered one of its best days since 2002.
Yet the huge market fluctuations lately have everyone shook up. The concerns stem from the uncertainty surrounding the financial markets and the government's historic bailouts for AIG, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The important thing is to keep people from panicking, said Gary Houle, chairman of the Financial Planning Association of Houston.
"It's best to stick to your financial plans and goals and not react to the market," Houle said. "Nobody knows what is going to happen tomorrow. It could get better, but it could get worse."
The U.S. has entered an era of uncertainty, said John Merrill, chief investment officer with Tanglewood Wealth Management in Houston.
He advises clients "it's better to be safe than sorry," so he has moved them into U.S. Treasury bonds and "steady-eddies" — blue-chip stocks with solid balance sheets.
"In virtually every bear market, investors are going to be nervous," he said. "It's not like we haven't been here before. The good news is the underpinnings of the economy look sound."
Yet some big financial institutions with large Texas holdings continue to face difficult conditions.
Wachovia is in merger talks with Morgan Stanley. Washington Mutual is reportedly looking for a buyer. The institutions insisted that they will continue with business as usual.
The Treasury Department continues to work with the Federal Reserve to stabilize the financial markets, said Dick Evans, CEO of San Antonio-based Frost Bank.
"What's important is to help reassure the public that there is an orderly function of absorbing these drops in value across the country," Evans said.
Meanwhile, Frost, which exited the mortgage business several years ago, has not experienced the bad debt problems plaguing other institutions, he said. Despite the problems on Wall Street, Evans said, "we can walk down Main Street in any of the great cities in Texas and feel comfortable."
Texas did not have large increases in home prices and the state continues to have 1.5 percent job growth, he said.
"Any time you're creating jobs, you are solving a lot of issues," he said.
In Texas, the economy is performing well especially in the energy, high-tech, residential and commercial markets, said Nathaniel Karp, economist for Compass Bank.
Houston is doing well even though Hurricane Ike threw it a bit of a curve, and the residential real estate market is healthy, said Steve Dufilho, president of Compass Bank San Antonio.
"Markets have booms and markets have busts," said Dick Cancelmo, portfolio manager for Bridgeway Funds in Houston. "If you want to invest in the equities market, you have to have a 20-year investment frame."
"Stay the course. It's going to be a long course. We've got ourselves into a mess."