Author: John Carney and Gregory White

Chales Schwab has released their latest survey of independent investment advisors and it points towards an across the board increased conservatism on the part of most clients.

While hedge funds and investment banks might have made a killing on distressed and risky asset classes, the retail investor isn’t chasing those particular rabbits.

In fact, the report make a good case for continuation of the “new normal,” with retail investors focused on savings over spending, security over risk, debt reduction over accumulation.

Of course, you never can tell whether the retail sector is an indicator of things to come or a contrary indicator pointing in the wrong direction.

Check Out The Trends On The Minds Of Investment Advisors Across The U.S. >>>

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Global economic growth this year will be lead by emerging markets and a stronger than expected US recovery, Morgan Stanley predicts in its recently issued “Five Themes 2010” memorandum.

Skip ahead to the details of Morgan Stanley’s predictions.

The recovery will largely be a “tale of two worlds,” the bank’s economists say. Growth in emerging markets will be more balanced and significantly outperform the recovery in the G10 countries.

In the developed economies, the recovery will be starved for credit and largely jobless. The US, however, will fare better than Europe and Japan, which will double-dip into a recession. Morgan Stanley is now projecting 5% US economic growth for the fourth quarter 2010, a big increase over its previous projection of 4.1%. it expects the US economy to grow at an average rate of 2.8% for the year.

The differences in economic performance will impact interest rates and exchange rates. In general, however, central bankers will “crawl rather than rush” toward the exits of quantitative easing.

The good news is that sovereign debt defaults will be less likely. Instead, governments will face a crisis of public confidence that they can handle their huge debt burdens without creating inflation.

Let’s go through the predictions for the year ahead >

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See Also:

• Goldman Sachs: The Year Will Be Huge For Big Banks, M&A, And Food Inflation, While Obamacare Will Prove Irrelevant
• Byron Wien: Here Are Ten Things That Will Surprise You In 2010
• Rosenberg’s Themes For 2010: The Consumer Is Still Toast, Housing Is Down, And Everyone Is Delinquent On Everything

Goldman Sachs has a decidedly downbeat view of the US economy in 2010.

The investment bank, which many regard as one of the biggest winners of 2009, is predicting that US growth in 2010 will be disappointing, amounting to just half of what the consensus of economists is predicting.

Last year, Goldman’s chief economist, Jan Hatzius, was named the economist of the year.

Goldman predicts that large cash balances at companies will lead to more M&A, larger dividends, and stock buy-backs. Companies will spend more on IT, buying cloud computer servers and increasing personal computer purchases.

Goldman detailed its predictions for 2010 in a memo released yesterday. The memo takes the form of 9 themes for the year. We read through it and produced a quickie guide to Goldman’s view of the world in 2010. 

Let’s take a closer look at Goldman’s worldview >>

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See Also:

• Goldman Loves These 50 Stocks With Heavy BRIC Exposure
• Obama And America Are Losing The Battle For Global Influence
• Goldman’s Jim O’Neill: Easy Money And High Oil Prices Make Russia The #1 BRIC For 2010