Market Vizion: Re-Opening, Mortgages, and Personal Responsibility

State Begin to Re-Open One by One

Well, I'd love to say that the future is so bright, I need shades. That's about what we need on this beautiful spring day as I'm outside shooting.

The reality is we're starting to see the reopening process here in the States. As I mentioned last week, we're going to see the different Petri dishes of federalism here where each state is acting in a little bit different process and stage. Some are being a little more cautious. Some are being a little more aggressive if we want to use that kind of vernacular as we're comparing this. In general, it's very good.

We're seeing some of the stubbed toes, some of the myths, and missteps. One of the cities down the Jersey shore put out a guide, "The beach is open and you can surf, but you can't swim and you can walk the beach, but you can't sit on the beach." That lasted about three days before there was enough of an uproar where they're just like, "Yeah, okay, the beach is open, bring a chair. Sit. Whatever you need to do." It was kind of silly that you could fish but you couldn't bring a chair to sit while you were fishing. We're seeing some of those oddities, but we're going to get through this.

That's what we're moving towards, reopening both as local communities, state statewide economies, and then nationally, we're beginning that process of moving. There's going to be some speed bumps here, but let's be respectful and be aware that the reality is none of us want to be the decision makers on this, right? These are really heavy conversations to be had, but the process is starting. We're really glad about that.

Mortgages Continue to Stabilize

We are continuing to watch mortgages and bank loans. We saw a little bit of a pullback early this week, but we seem to be seeing some stabilization now. We're pretty happy with that.

We have seen a little bit of a pullback in the market this week. It's consistent with what I've said about being range bound here where we went from 29,000 to 18,000 too fast on the Dow Jones. We went from 18,000 back up to 24,000 too fast so now we're probably going to be range-bound here for a little bit while we see how these decisions about reopening really play out over the course of the next couple of months.

We're aware of it. We're on top of it. We're speaking with our research team numerous times a week. I'm really giving the time that I have to gorging myself on data because that's the math geek in me coming out. Just give me more data. Let me digest more and more and more. This is an environment that's right for drinking from a fire hose because there's lots of data that you've seen.

Personal Responsibility During Re-Opening

The last thing I want to say to you this week is just be safe, be responsible - however you interpret that and define that. If you're in these high risk categories, please don't be afraid to stay home. That's okay. You don't need to feel pressure to come out and reengage and be part of this reopening process if you're concerned about that. Be safe. Be responsible. Those of us who are not in the high risk categories, let's be responsible to protect those who are. At the end of the day, be hope-filled. We're getting through this.

There's going to be a lot of pent up demand for the market and for our economy as we get through this. We're pretty hopeful about how the economy bottoms out in the second quarter, and we start to see a recovery in the second half of the year.

This has been a really treacherous time for the market and a challenging time for all of us. By all means, if you have concerns, if you have questions about your specific personal situation, don't hesitate to reach out to us. You're never an inconvenience or an interruption to our day. We're here at Vizionary Wealth Management with perspective for the decisions ahead. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you need us. Take care.