The LPL Financial Research Current Conditions Index is a weekly measure of the conditions that underpin our outlook for the markets and economy. The CCI provides real-time context and insight into the trends that shape our recommended actions to manage portfolios. This index has proven to be a useful tool for investment decision making.

This weekly index is not intended to be a leading index or predictive of where conditions are headed, but a coincident measure of where they are right now. We want to track the conditions in real-time to aid in investment decision making. There are thousands of indicators-some lead the economy, some lag, while others merely offer a lot of statistical noise. We
chose to create our own index tailored to the current environment to provide the clearest and most useful way to track
conditions. The components of the CCI are periodically changed to retune the index to those factors most critical to the markets and economy so it may continue to be a valuable investment decision-making tool.

Psychologists at the University of Scranton have found that by the end of January one-third of people had broken their New Year’s resolution and by March that rises to about half. The failure rate goes up from there.

Many of us make New Year’s resolutions such as eating healthier or losing weight. These resolutions are easy to make but difficult to keep. Why? They are too broad. We hope to eat healthier, but we haven’t thought about how to overcome afternoon snacking. We hope to lose weight, but we have no specific plan for taking the pounds off. Focusing on the small steps — such as losing two pounds a month — is more realistic and helps us build more momentum toward our goal.

The LPL Financial Research CurrentConditions Index is a weekly measure of the conditions that underpin our outlook for the markets and economy. The CCI provides real-time context and insight into the trends that shape our recommended actions to manage portfolios. This index has proven to be a useful tool for investment decision making.

This weekly index is not intended to be a leading index or predictive of where conditions are headed, but a coincident measure of where they are right now. We want to track the conditions in real-time to aid in investment decision making. There are thousands of indicators-some lead the economy, some lag, while others merely offer a lot of statistical noise. We chose to create our own index tailored to the current environment to provide the clearest and most useful way to track
conditions. The components of the CCI are periodically changed to retune the index to those factors most critical to the markets and economy so it may continue to be a valuable investment decision-making tool.

The Portfolio Compass provides a snapshot of LPL Financial Research views on Equity & Alternative Asset Classes, the Equity Sectors, and Fixed Income. This biweekly publication illustrates our current views and will change as needed over a 3- to 12-month time horizon.

Reading the Portfolio Compass

Fundamental, technical, and valuation characteristics for each category are shown by colored squares. Negative, neutral, or positive views are illustrated by a solid black bar positioned over the color scale, while an outlined black bar with an arrow indicates change and shows the previous view.

Rationales for our views are provided beneath each category.

The LPL Financial Research Current Conditions Index is a weekly measure of the conditions that underpin our outlook for the markets and economy. The CCI provides real-time context and insight into
the trends that shape our recommended actions to manage portfolios. This index has proven to be a useful tool for investment
decision making. This weekly index is not intended to be a leading index or predictive of where conditions are headed, but a coincident measure of where they are right now. We want to track the conditions in real-time to aid in investment decision making. There are thousands of indicators-some lead the economy, some lag, while others merely offer a lot of statistical noise.