“If you were to close your eyes and not look at the market for the next five years, where do you think you could make the most money?” Our answer to the question:

First the bad news. The 3rd quarter of 2015 was the worst quarter for the financial markets in four years. From July through September, most major stock market indexes experienced a correction of 6% to 10%, with areas such as energy, health care, and emerging market stocks getting hit even harder. With markets generally flat in the first half of the year, the correction in the 3rd quarter means virtually every index we look at for asset classes around the world is down 6% to 10% on a year-to-date basis.What’s the good news?

Fears of China’s slowing economy and the resulting correction it caused in late August has clearly rattled investors. Understandably, investors are asking, “what’s next?” Read about some of the key things we are looking at:

Japan is known as the “Land of the Rising Sun,” but could it also be known as the Land of the Rising Stock Market? So far in 2015, foreign stocks have broadly outperformed U.S. stocks, but European companies seem to be attracting the most attention. Japanese stocks have risen alongside Europe, but seem to be flying under the radar.

Home, home on the range…the U.S. stock market seems very at home in the “trading range” it has been in for the last four months. One of the key questions we have been asking in The Joseph Group’s Investment Strategy meetings is “What could make the market break out of this sideways pattern to one direction or another?” In an attempt to answer this question, we’ve tried to look at possibilities in both directions.

Last week we held the first of what will become a regular event – “Coffee with the CIO” – at The Joseph Group’s offices led by The Joseph Group’s Chief Investment Officer, Travis Upton. Numerous topics were covered, but two main issues were clearly on the clients’ minds – 1) the continued saga of Greece, and 2) where to play offense in order to make money in what has been a flat market.