Monday, January 31, 2011

PositivelyPittsburghLive, 2011 Pittsburgh Economic Outlook, 1-24-11



Positively Pittsburgh Live! 1-24-11
Pittsburgh Economic Outlook 2011

Listen to the original show taped on 1-17-11 and archived here:


Today’s Guests

J. Andre Weisbrod, President and CEO of STAAR Financial advisors and founder of the STAAR investment Trust
Keith Morehouse, registered investment advisor for 11 years, focus on stock equity research
Bill Flanagan, Host of Our Regions Business, Executive Vice President of Allegheny Conference on Community Development



J. André Weisbrod, ChFC

Mutual Fund Manager, Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, Author, Lecturer

J. André Weisbrod is President of Weisbrod Financial Services, Inc. and STAAR Financial Advisors, Inc. a Registered Investment Advisor and advisor to the STAAR Investment Trust family of mutual funds. He is a Pittsburgh-based financial advisor providing individuals, businesses and organizations with comprehensive investment services. He has been in the financial services business since 1981 and has managed the highly rated STAAR AltCat Fund since 1996.
An accomplished speaker and writer, Mr. Weisbrod is the author of The Creative Personal Finance Workbook (PP&C, 1984, 1986), Becoming One Financially (Journey Books, 1989), The STAAR SYSTEM Investment Management Manual (1991) and How to Invest Wisely (1994). He has had articles published in a variety of newspapers, magazines and newsletters, has been interviewed by publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily and Mutual Funds Magazine, quoted by commentators such as Paul Harvey and has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows, including on KDKA, TheStreet.com, Reuters TV and Business News Network


Keep looking forward no matter how difficult things may seem, evaluate the negative while looking for the positive and you have a real good chance of coming out positively on the other side.”
·         Global recovery will be incremental but relatively solid.
·         The things that we do and have make a difference. We affect people with the decisions we make in our individual households.
·         Many small business owners look at national, state and local government and feel that the government doesn’t understand what the small business owners go through. A lot of things are geared toward larger companies. The government did some good things at the beginning of the crisis but then some things fell off. They should be focused on structure as opposed to nonsensical rules.
·         Big businesses get a bail out but small businesses do not.
·         Pittsburgh is one of the more stable regions in the country.
·         Real estate Job numbers not as bad as many in the country.
·         I respect a lot of the business people in the region because when things look bad they don’t just pack up and move to California.
Contact Information: 412-367-9076.

Keith Morehouse
Bio:
Keith got into the financial services industry in 1985 after playing and teaching drums. He still can be seen playing around Pittsburgh with Jazz vocalist Etta Cox and Jessica Lee and once in awhile with his own group MoorHouse Jazz, in which he features many of Pittsburgh's top soloists.

Keith has been a Registered Investment Advisor for the past eleven years and his focus has been on stock equity research for individual clients, other advisors and private equity deals.
He is a fundamental analyst by trade.  


“Pittsburgh has come a long way. There are plenty of opportunities here, especially with smaller companies.”
·         Pittsburgh stocks that I really like are PNC, PPG, and ALCOA.
·         PNC’s debt to income ratio is leveling out and they are getting healthier.
·         ALCOA is an excellent is gauge on the world economy, more aluminum is being sold globally
·         When looking at a company I look for fundamentals, then listen to some earnings calls. I’m looking for good and honest management. I look at products, competition, past versus what they say they will do in the future. I really get to know the company.
Contact Information: 412-257-2390



Bill Flanagan


Bill Flanagan is Executive Vice President—Corporate Relations for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and its affiliated regional development organizations: The Pennsylvania Economy League of Southwestern Pennsylvania LLC, the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance and the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce.
Bill supervises Investor Relations activities for the Conference and Affiliates, including fundraising, membership services and educational programming. He oversees organizational communications. In this role, Bill also hosts “Our Region’s Business” on WPXI-TV, WJAC-TV, WTOV-TV and the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC), a program the Conference produces in partnership with WPXI-TV.
“Visit imaginePittsburgh.com if looking for work because there are opportunities out there. The number of jobs continues to grow.”





  • ·         The number one sector in Pittsburgh is financial and business services.
  • ·         BNY Mellon has more employees here than in Manhattan. They created several jobs and still hiring several hundreds more.
  • ·         Pittsburgh ranks in the top ten of corporate headquarters city

  • ·         More than 100 companies in the region that are billion dollar or more global companies.
  • ·         Marcellus shale, a deep deposit of natural gas, is believed to be 2nd largest deposit of natural gas in the world and Pittsburgh is right smack in the center of it. This has and will create jobs and bring money into the region.
  • ·         The energy story is bigger than just this. There are several energy related industries here in Pittsburgh- Coal, nuclear, parts for solar power plants and windmills, Smart Grid management, transmission and distribution.
  • ·         There are more than 700 companies playing in the global energy space
  • ·         Employment has out performed the national average for 4 years in a row.
  • ·         PPG was the first to figure out how to mass produce flat glass, major research facilities here in Pittsburgh.
  • ·         ALCOA was the first to master aluminum, major tech center in west Moreland County.
  • ·         Both companies have innovation that comes from Pittsburgh.
  • ·         Westinghouse Electric added several thousand jobs and is expanding globally because of the demand for nuclear power.
  • ·         Pittsburgh invented the industry with the World’s first nuclear power plant.
  • ·         The world leaders in nuclear engineering are Paris, France and Pittsburgh.
  • ·         Microsoft, Disney, Google, apple, and Intel all have a presence here because of the innovation that is coming out of the universities.


To hear this episode of Positively Pittsburgh Live in its entirety go to http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=443548&cmd=apop

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Delana Flowers is a Positively Pittsburgh Live reporter, an independent writer and owner of Ingenuity by Delana Flowers ©, writing effective copy so you don’t have to. Services include copywriting for newsletters, blogs, ad copy, marketing pieces, articles, reviews, invitations, postcards, flyers and more.

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