Protect...Grow...Repeat

Market & Economic Brief

Summer 2010

GLOBAL STOCKS
Stocks generally ended the first half of 2010 under pressure. The S&P 500 was down -7.5% and the MSCI Developed Country index declined -15.8%. Q2 earnings reports are expected to be strong but forward guidance is less certain. Leading companies held up surprisingly well as markets sold off.

WORLD ECONOMY
Leading economic leading indicators produced by ECRI continue to signal a slowdown in the U.S. economy but will need to deteriorate further before signaling another recession.

INFLATION DATA
Broad inflation pressure appears to be contained and interest rates remain very low.

U.S. RESIDENTIAL HOUSING
After a pick-up earlier in the year, home sales appear to have slowed after the expiration of the home buyer credit at the end of April in most U.S. markets.

PLANNING
New conversion rules for ROTH IRA's in 2010 may present a unique planning opportunity.

Potential tax changes in 2011 are reason to review tax strategy in 2010.

DCG Investment Strategy

Dightman Capital Group has designed and continues to advance a highly disciplined investment management approach. Our adaptive money management service uses a variety of techniques in an attempt to avoid large capital losses during market contractions and capture gains during market expansions. We combine economic, market, technical and behavioral data in our process.

We have built a highly scalable system that can be deployed over a large asset base and number of accounts. We offer three growth strategies for different risk profiles: Aggressive, Moderate & Conservative.

We use a wide variety of asset classes: Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate Investment Trust, Master Limited Partnerships, Currencies, Commodities, Long/Short, Managed Futures, Money Markets, and others. In addition to investment strategies managed directly by DCG, we recognize the expertise of other skilled investment managers and may utilize their services in our strategy. Our entire approach is designed to maintain flexibility in how we manage risk and deliver returns.

Our primary goal is to expose our strategies to growth opportunities when they are present and to move to a defensive posture during sustained market and economic contractions. We follow a variety of data sources for information about the near term environment for investments and invest our strategies accordingly.

Most of our strategies use exchange traded or mutual fund investments, although other investment structures may be used. Please review our ADV Part II for more detail on our investment strategies.