Advanced Investment Partners

During the trading day on March 6th, 2009, the S&P 500 Index hit its intraday bottom of 666.79. In the ensuing three years the Index has advanced over 100%. Along the way, weve witnessed the collapse of some of the older and more hallowed names in the financial industry buh-bye Lehman Brothers, so long Merrill), endured the most severe recession in at least 25 years, suffered through incredible spates of market volatility, and gathered a few gray hairs (or lost some hair) along the way.

A headline sums up the markets action: its a sell first, ask questions later market as investors experience flashbacks to the 2007/2008 markets. Investors/markets dont like uncertainty and theyre getting political, economic and sovereign uncertainty in abundance. With the austerity discussions that are dominating US and Europe, there are increasing concerns about a double-dip recession even though positive economic signs are out there earnings, revenues, and a slightly better than expected jobs report.