Fee Based Compensation Aligns Interests

Retail financial professionals have increasingly moved away from commissions and to a standard fee-based structure. This change should better align the interests of clients and advisors. For example, there is less incentive to trade. Moreover, there is little need for advisors to select funds that charge a high load, as their compensation no longer depends on the "kickback" received from the fund companies. As a result, the fund flow to high load funds has turned negative. See article here, Investment News.

2015 Macro Trends

While it is still early, Goldman Sachs has posted its 10 market themes for 2015. These may be useful in top-down analysis. See article here, Barrons.

Short Term Market Indicators

For those interested in technical analysis, some traders are suggesting that the market is set for a pull back. See article and video here, Yahoo.