With only three Federal Open Market Committee meetings remaining this year, investors will be paying close attention to
the Fed’s language, which has moved markets previously. Volatility is expected to continue leading into next Wednesday’s meeting.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury hit its year-to-date high of 2.995 percent on September 5, but it was back down to
2.876 percent on Monday morning. Read more now in our Weekly Market Summary.
With the Federal Reserve’s next meeting scheduled for September 18, volatility is expected to continue throughout the month
as investors wait to see whether or not the Fed will begin tapering its current bond purchasing program. Read more now in our Weekly Market Summary.
Our offices will be closing early Friday afternoon, Aug. 30, for our annual Employee Appreciation event.
All will remain closed until 8 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 3.
We hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend.
Allen Insurance and Financial is offering a series of information sessions to help educate our communities about the Affordable Care Act – the federal legislation many call Obamacare.
These sessions will be held in Damariscotta, Rockland, Camden, Belfast and Ellsworth and anyone with questions about health insurance is welcome to attend.
The Affordable Care Act requires almost all Americans to have health insurance as of Jan. 1, 2014 or pay a penalty.
Allen Insurance and Financial is a leading Maine resource for reliable, actual information about the Affordable Care Act. Know your options regarding:
Each presentation is free and open to the public — everyone is invited to bring their questions.
Additional sessions are being scheduled with a number of area service clubs; anyone who would like to schedule for their community group should call Jill Lang at 236-4311. Additional information is online at Allen’s Affordable Care Act Resource Center web page: AllenIF.com/healthcare
With last week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes behind us, investors will be looking ahead to the next meeting on September 18—the date more and more people are expecting some kind of tapering to the bond purchasing program. We are not yet convinced this will occur, but bond markets seem to be expecting such a move. Read more now in our Weekly Market Summary.
Our Rockland, Camden and Belfast offices will be closing Thursday, Aug. 22 at 2 p.m. so we may attend a memorial service for Sara Montgomery, our executive vice president who recently lost her battle with cancer. The service begins at 3 p.m. at the Camden Snow Bowl.
These three offices will reopen, as usual, at 8 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 23. Hours at our Southwest Harbor office are not affected.
Speculation that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will taper its level of bond purchasing has pushed Treasury rates to their highest levels since 2010. The 10-year Treasury yield was as high as 2.87 percent early Monday morning.
The S&P 500 dropped a little more than 2 percent on the week. Correlations were relatively high, with most of the major
domestic indices reporting similar losses. The Nasdaq was an outlier on the positive side, losing just 1.51 percent on strength in
technology stocks.
Healthcare fraud is likely to increase through October, when the healthcare exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act open to the public. Many of these scammers are using phone calls or email to conduct their fraudulent activities.
Some things to keep in mind:
We’re here to answer your questions and point you in the right direction.
The S&P 500 Index broke above the important 1,700 level last week, closing at 1,706. In the second quarter, gross domestic
product (GDP) grew 1.7 percent, rising above analyst expectations. Read more in this Weekly Market Update.
Along with her many friends and colleagues in Camden and around the state, we are mourning the passing Saturday, Aug. 3, of Sara Montgomery after her lengthy battle with cancer.
Sara was a colleague, leader and friend, and more, to so many.
A native of Camden and a graduate of Camden-Rockport High School and the University of New Hampshire, Sara followed her father, David Montgomery, into the insurance field, starting her career in 1978 with Hartford Insurance. Five years later, Sara came home to Camden to work with her dad at Allen.
As she honed her expertise and the company grew, Sara rose to the post of executive vice president, earning the respect of her colleagues and clients for her smart, friendly-yet-direct way of doing business. Sara was known for going out of her way to get a challenging job done right (and always with a smile).
Sara supervised the human resource, accounting, property, marketing and information technology aspects of our company. She also served the insurance needs of a large number of business clients.
Sara was a Camden Rotarian and a Paul Harris Fellow. She was involved in many charitable efforts in our community, most notably the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, the Ragged Mountain Recreation Area Redevelopment, the Pen Bay Healthcare Foundation and United Mid-Coast Charities.
There is so much more to Sara than her list of accomplishments — she was about the people and places she loved, always making sure to express her love and appreciation for them.
A celebration of life is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 22 at 3 p.m. at the Camden Snow Bowl.
Memorial gifts in her memory may be made to the Ragged Mountain Recreation Area Foundation, P.O. Box 438, Camden, ME 04843. Condolences and memories may be shared with the Montgomery family by visting their book of memories at longfuneralhomecamden.com.
