Salient to Investors:

Hank Smith at Haverford Trust sees the market bouncing along the bottom.

Laura Martin at Needham said academic research shows that the greater the diversity on a corporation’s board, the higher the returns to shareholders.

Sam Stovall at S&P said the lack of direction is understandable given investors await the outcome of the upcoming election.

  • U.S. shares have returned 5.7 percent in election years since World War II, the second-worst performance during four-year executive branch terms.
  • The S&P index posts an average gain during the third quarter of election years, but is just as likely to rise as fall.
  • The lowest point during years of presidential votes have come in the first half 71 percent of the time.
  • The most consistent gains come in the final quarter, when the S&P has risen 81 percent of the time.
  • Only in 2 of the 17 election years since 1944 did the S&P Index bottom in Q4, in 2000 and 2008, when Internet and housing bubbles burst.

Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-26/u-s-stock-futures-gain-before-consumer-confidence-data.html