Safety and security are likely on the minds of many members as the market dips and dives as reaction to the country’s credit downgrade piles up around them.
Scott Powell, managing director of the general account for CUNA Mutual Group’s MEMBERS Capital Advisors, offered that take on the impact of the recent string of investment and government fluctuations.
“For credit unions, this is a perplexing time. I believe members are swarming credit unions with liquidity. They want safety and security,” Powell said. “At the same time loan demand has been very weak.”
For members, there could be tremendous buys for people who want to own stock at the current prices, Powell said. However, he cautioned investors and institutions not to make “knee-jerk, panicked decisions.”
“Paper losses turn into real losses when you sell. This level of volatility can also drive people to make decisions that they may regret in the future with their long-term money. One has to assess their time frame,” Powell said.
Meanwhile, the current market volatility, global debt concerns and the country’s credit downgrade go back a few years.
“Our view is we’ve been facing numerous global headwinds since the 2008 to 2009 recession. It was deeply driven by leverage as opposed to business cycle adjustments. We haven’t had one like the [Great Recession] since the 1930s,” Powell said.
One bright spot is corporations are financially sound for the most part and are in better health than before the last major financial crisis, he noted. But that could change.
“The challenge with recessions is they become self-fulfilling prophesies due to a lack of confidence,” Powell said. “It can lead to consumers not wanting to spend, retail sales fall and the [Gross Domestic Product] slows down. That’s what we’re trying to avoid.”
