“Making a Silk Purse out of a Sow’s Ear.” -Stephen Gossen

There are many concerns in the markets these days. Whether the talk of the day is Greece, China, Puerto Rico or somewhere else, there is a lot of uncertainty in the financial world. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is negative for the year. Bonds have been even bigger losers. It seems that investors have finally got the message that the Federal Reserve is going to start raising interest rates. While our returns are positive for the year, our outperformance of the S&P 500 and DJIA is nothing to write home about.

With the markets still within 5% of their all-time highs, we are being cautious. We have been taking action the past few weeks to move into a more conservative investment position by raising cash as well as extending our options contracts to bring in more protection. This has helped to mitigate some of the large losses in the market the past week.

Looking forward to whatever happens with Greece and Puerto Rico, the United States is in good financial shape to weather the crisis. Most of the Greek debt is owed to European entities. Due to the Greek scares back in 2011 and 2012, the European Union is prepared. This time it will hurt Greece or their investors or both, but it should not be a crisis. The reason for our increased caution is China. China is dealing with a myriad of financial, societal and governmental issues, any of which could affect our markets. We will keep a watchful eye.

As we weather this latest financial storm, we appreciate your trust in us. If you ever have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help in any way that we can.

If you are on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, be sure to follow (or like) us. Each week we share news regarding our investments or comment on current market conditions. It is another way for us to keep you informed. There are buttons in the top right corner of our website that will take you to our social media pages. Don’t feel like you need to sign up for all three services. We publish the same information to each of them.

Very truly yours,

Michael F. Cantlon

Thomas E. Guyett

Robert T. Gephart