Europe's periphery is finding itself at a crossroads similar to the one Argentina and Latvia faced in the last decade.

Although the S&P 500 saw a decline of about 75 basis points in April, four sectors managed to post gains, while the remaining six sectors were down.  Telecom Services was the month's best performing sector with a gain of 4.19%.  Unfortunately, it is also the smallest sector in the S&P 500, so the odds are slim that it makes up a large percentage of your portfolio.  Besides the Telecom Services sector, Utilities (1.77%), Consumer Discretionary (1.24%) and Consumer Staples (0.10%) were the remaining three sectors that managed to squeak out gains this month.

Download Full PDF 1. Oil and the Global Economy

Last week while out shopping, I ran into a fellow Vet.  As we chatted, the subject of media coverage of wars came up.  He had served in Vietnam and we both found it interesting that media coverage of that conflict was pretty extensive and covered almost nightly.  In contrast the war inAfghanistanis not covered to the same extent in mainstream media.  We were concerned that in this presidential election year with so much on the line, the public would not be very well informed. This brings me to the topic of my blog.