In The Media
Christiana Trust managers are regularly featured in various media outlets. Below are the quoted excerpts from articles featuring our managers.
May 17, 2013 (Bloomberg)
U.S. Stocks Advance on Leading Indicators, Sentiment Data
“You’ve got the leading indicators helping the market today,” Thomas Nyheim, a Wilmington, Delaware-based fund manager for Christiana Trust, which oversees about $16 billion, said in a phone interview. “We’re seeing good signs for the economy, you’re getting this grinding, slow growth that just keeps coming out.”
May 11, 2013 (MarketWatch)
Stock Rally's Burden Shifts to the Consumer “With a lack of data in the past week, the market may face more of a headwind in the coming week as investors are hit with a torrent," said Scott Armiger, manager of the Christiana Trust at Wilmington Savings Fund Society.
April 23, 2013 (Bloomberg)
U.S. Stocks Gain as Caterpillar Rises Amid Commodities Rally “The home sales number was disappointing for the market but we still think the housing market is showing modest improvement,” Thomas Nyheim, a Wilmington, Delaware-based fund manager for Christiana Trust, which oversees about $17 billion, said in a phone interview.
April 11, 2013 (WSJ)
DJ Big Name Buyout Firms Show No Sign of Easing Follow-On Offerings? “[Private equity executives] have sharp pencils and know what they're doing," says Scott Armiger, vice president of Christiana Trust, a wealth-management unit of WSFS Financial Corp. (WSFS) that oversees $15 billion in assets. "I would look at it as another bit of evidence that stocks are more likely to go down than up," Mr. Armiger said.
April 2, 2013 (CNNMoney)
Should Investors Be Worried About North Korea? “This market has been oblivious to bad new years this year. But North Korea would be somethign the Fed can't fix. It is the kind of bolt out of the blue risk that you can plan for," said Scott Armiger, chief investment officer of Christiana Trust.
April 2, 2013 (CNBC)
Why the Stock Market's Best Weapon Could Run Out of Gas “You would think that corporate treasury departments would start to look at stock prices and earnings prospects, and they'd be smart to wait," said Scott Armiger, chief investment officer at Christiana Trust, a Greenville, Del.-based company that manages $15 billion for clients. "They'll be able to do their buybacks at a much more attractive price in the not-too-distant future."
February 14, 2013 (Bloomberg)
U.S. Stocks Are Little Changed as Heinz Tempers Economy “There is global economic weakness and we’re still constrained growth-wise,” Scott Armiger, a money manager at Christiana Trust in Greenville, Delaware, said in a telephone interview. His firm has $15 billion in client assets. “It’s an environment where it’s easier to buy growth than trying to grow organically.”
February 8, 2013 (MarketWatch)
Dow Posts Weekly Loss; S&P, Nasdaq Extend Streak
"That better-than-expected trade data may lead to revisions of fourth-quarter gross-domestic-product figures into positive territory", said Scott Armiger, manager of the $500 million Christiana Trust at Wilmington Savings Fund Society. “That will make people have a little more confidence in GDP, and will probably revise the fourth-quarter number up a little bit,” said Armiger.
February 5, 2013 (Reuters)
Stocks Resume Climb
"Stocks are really the only place investors can go for any kind of real return, and that’s enough to have people continuing to come into the market, not just buying on dips but in general,” said Thomas Nyheim, portfolio manager at Christiana Trust in Greenville, Del.
December 26, 2012 (Bloomberg)
U.S. Stocks Rise on Japan Speculation Amid Budget Talks
"The finance center is still Washington right now," Scott Armiger, a money manager at Christiana Trust in Greenville, Delaware, said in a telephone interview. Christiana Trust has $14 billion in client assets. "With the fiscal cliff, the questions are how bad will the deal be or will they just extend it and let the new Congress address it?"
December 17, 2012 (Dow Jones Business News)
U.S. Stocks Open Higher Amid Budget Talks
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) proposed a tax-rate increase for the first time in the U.S. budget debate, according to reports late Friday. Senior Democrats described the offer as moving the talks away from gridlock. Investors have monitored the negotiations, aimed at averting a package of spending cuts and tax increases set to come into effect at the start of next year called the "fiscal cliff."
"This is the week that everybody's looking for a deal, and they'll celebrate anything," said Scott Armiger, portfolio manager at Christiana Trust.
An index measuring New York-area manufacturing showed shrinking activity in December for the fifth month in a row. The index, based on a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey, was worse than the prior month's reading as well as economists' expectations.
October 18, 2012 (Bloomberg)
U.S. Stock-Index Futures Decline as Jobless Claims Rise
“We’re are probably going to drift down today because of the jobless claims report,” Thomas Nyheim, a Wilmington, Delaware-based fund manager for Christiana Trust, which oversees about $13 billion, said in a telephone interview. “Everything seems paused until we get clarity on the election since there are a lot of economic policy issues that need to be resolved before the end of the year.”
October 10, 2012 (WSJ.com)
Blue Chips Down Triple-Digits
"The earnings trend's just not strong enough," said Scott Armiger, portfolio manager at Christiana Trust. "We had a run on expectations. It's normal, it's healthy, to wonder 'where's the beef' on this rally."
September 18, 2012 (Bloomberg)
U.S. Stocks Futures Are Little Changed Amid Europe Crisis
"We’re looking for the market to flatten out and hold where it is until the U.S. election,” Thomas Nyheim, a Wilmington, Delaware-based fund manager for Christiana Trust, which oversees about $13 billion, said in a telephone interview. “Europe is an overhang that’s still there on the U.S. market. Their debt crisis is not being handled, it’s Band-Aids here and there. It’s slowing us down.”
September 13, 2012 (San Francisco Chronicle)
U.S. Stocks Advance Before Federal Reserve Policy Statement
"The stock market has clearly been banking on more easing by the Fed,” Scott Armiger, a money manager at Christiana Trust in Greenville, Delaware, which has $11 billion in client assets, said in a phone interview. “There’s been a slew of disappointing news over the last week or two, and nothing seems to have rattled the markets.”
Septmeber 13, 2012 (Bloomberg)
Stocks Advance with Treasuries, Oil before Fed Decision
"We have a stock market that’s on welfare,” Scott Armiger, a money manager at Christiana Trust in Greenville, Delaware, which has $11 billion in client assets, said in a phone interview. “It’s waiting for its next entitlement from the Fed and hoping it gets it today.”
August 15, 2012 (Bloomberg)
S&P Fluctuates as Investors Weigh Manufacturing Reports
"With the volume so light, it doesn’t take much to get a movement in either direction,” Scott Armiger, a money manager at Christiana Trust in Greenville, Delaware, which has $11 billion in client assets, said in a phone interview. “The market just seems to be resisting all the worries here.”
August 13, 2012 (WSJ.com)
Investors Shift Gears Towards Growth
"We're conflicted," said Scott Armiger, vice president and portfolio manager at Christiana Trust, who said he hasn't altered his portfolio amid recent gains and holds a skeptical view about the global economy. "We're overweight some cyclicals, and we stay with companies with a global reach. But Europe's hurting, and we're underweight energy. We don't see the demand there for that right now."
August 12, 2012 (Bloomberg News)
S&P 500 Rises for Fifth Week Amid Optimism Over Stimulus
"The risk-on trade is back,” Scott Armiger, a money manager at Christiana Trust in Greenville, Delaware, which has $11 billion in client assets, said in a phone interview. “People think things are on a much better footing now. No matter what they do, it’s either if the numbers are good, then we’re recovering, or if the numbers are bad, the Federal Reserve will stimulate and we’ll still move up.”
August 11, 2012 (MarketWatch)
Retail earnings, data in investor focus
"Expect some disappointment there, said Scott Armiger, manager of the $500 million Christiana Trust at Wilmington Savings Fund Society. Reported jobs growth is doing little to support back-to-school shopping, especially with higher gasoline prices cutting into the consumer, who has seen few income gains this year. “With back-to-school shopping people are dialing it back, and we want to see if that is what’s truly happening,” added Armiger. “Also, $4-a-gallon gas prices are a tipping point for the U.S. consumer.”
The money manager also believes European leaders on vacation and the congressional recess are beneficial for markets. in that they are less likely to harm them. “With nothing coming out of Brussels or Washington, we’ll be looking out for some hiccup like Knight [Capital Group Inc.] KCG-5.54% next week,” Armiger said.
August 9, 2012 (WSJ.com)
U.S. Stocks Barely Budge
"Personally, I didn't see it coming," said Scott Armiger, vice president and portfolio manager at Christiana Trust. "I have seen no macroeconomic improvement here, or across the pond, that would put everybody in a better mood. And yet everybody is in a better mood," he said.
July 14, 2012 (MarketWatch)
Next week focus is on Citi, Google, 'fiscal cliff' Earnings outlooks, Bernanke testimony likely to hold sway
“All eyes are on Washington because policy decisions are more of a driver of earnings than individual companies,” said Scott Armiger, manager of the $500 million Christiana Trust at Wilmington Savings Fund Society. In addition to events out of Washington, June retail sales data on Monday will be of particular interest to Armiger.
“We care about retail because the consumer is two-thirds of the economy, and they seem to be struggling a bit,” Armiger said.
Growth in retail sales may not necessarily translate into good news for the economy if one considers it’s being financed by more debt, Armiger said. Earlier in the week, the Federal Reserve reported that U.S. consumers increased their debt in May by $17.1 billion, the biggest increase since December, and the ninth-straight monthly gain.
June 25, 2012 (Wall Street Journal)
"I do think the banks are stronger today than they were before the crisis, but where were those sharp pencils [at Moody's] in 2006 and 2007?" said Scott Armiger, vice president at Christiana Trust, a wealth-management unit of WSFS Financial Corp.
June 14, 2012 (FOXBusiness)
The markets charged higher on Thursday on optimism global central bankers are making preparations to stave off the potential financial pressures that may follow the Greek elections.
"Scott Armiger, Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Christiana Trust, said even if the moves come to fruition, they represent the wrong medicine for the illness."
June 8, 2012 (FOXBusiness)
America: The Root of America's Problems?
"Until last Friday, any slippages here were blamed on Europe,said Scott Armiger, vice president and portfolio manager at Delaware-based Christiana Trust, which oversees $11 billion in assets."
"However, Armiger says that the biggest concern to investors, and U.S. businesses, is the unraveling situation right here at home.
"We're the best house in a bad neighborhood,he said. We have a lot of homegrown challenges.
Armiger points to a labor market that by many estimates isnt expanding quickly enough to keep up with population growth as a fundamental factor that is making investors cautious. Echoing many Wall Street and academic economists, he says that at almost three years after the recession officially ended, the economy should be humming along,not struggling to maintain a 2% annualized growth rate."
"So whats the root of the problem?
Armiger reckons it has a lot to do with business confidence.
Businesses are sort of paralyzed right now,he said. For one, with a major election looming, executives are finding it tough to gauge what their tax picture will look like in the short run. On top of that, painful automatic federal spending cuts may be on the horizon if politicians fail to strike an agreement to cut the nations debt level."
"He is quick to point out that Washington has found itself in a quagmire as a result of problems that transcend specific political parties. Politicians across the spectrum have left businesses uncertain about the future."
"With the outlook murky, it has also made for a difficult environment in the financial markets. The Dow gave up all of its gains for the year last week on the back of the weak employment data, just to lurch back into the black this week."
"The volatility appears to be here to stay, according to Armiger. He has positioned portfolios he manages with mainly domestic, large-cap companies. Looking at specific sectors, he says it makes sense to play it safe, overweighting defensive sectors like health care and consumer staples, and shying away from energy and financials."
"I'm optimistic in the long term … but there is a lot of chop in the middle,Armiger said."
June 8, 2012 (CNN Money)
Shine On You Crazy Dimon: Is Worst Over for JPMorgan?
"Scott Armiger, a portfolio manager with Christiana Trust, a Wilmington, Del.-based investment firm that owns shares of JPMorgan, thinks the controversy around the trading loss has been overblown. Armiger said that in a worst case scenario, it could shave 20 cents off earnings per share. That's less than 5% of Wall Street's current consensus estimates of $4.36 a share for all of 2012." "Armiger said one of the reasons investors are probably so worried is that JPMorgan Chase, up until now, had been the golden child among banks. It was the darling that could do no wrong since it held up much better than the likes of Goldman, Morgan Stanley (MS), Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) during the 2008-2009 meltdown. But he is not concerned that this is a sign of bigger problems at the bank."
"This is a black eye and investors are right to be concerned. But will this lead to a permanent impairment of the bank's capital or is it just a short-term management mistake? I think it's the latter," he said.
"Armiger said that JPMorgan Chase doesn't deserve to be lumped in that group."
"But Armiger isn't a bank bull, which is why I find his endorsement of JPMorgan Chase to be noteworthy. He said he's actually underweight the financial sector in his portfolio and that the only other banks he owns besides JPMorgan Chase are Wells Fargo and regional bank/credit card lender Capital One (COF)."
May 17, 2012 (Reuters)
Analysis: Will Mild Winter Mean Summertime Blues for Retailers?
"The thing that really jumped out to me on the personal income was the income growth had slowed on a year-over-year basis for four straight months - so I wasn't excited about seeing that," said Scott Armiger, portfolio manager at Christiana Trust in Greenville, Delaware."
"If we get any kind of pop, any kind of economic growth or some help for the consumers - a nice drop in gas prices - they will do very well," said Armiger.
April 30, 2012 (WSJ.com)
U.S. Stocks Appear to Lose their Fizz
"I know we're beating expectations, but compared to what these earnings were supposed to be nine months ago, we've fallen short," says Scott Armiger, a portfolio manager for Christiana Trust in Wilmington, Del., which oversees $11 billion in assets. "I'm concerned about earnings going forward."
April 18, 2012 (Reuters)
1st Quarter EPS 43 Cents vs 38 Cents Wall St Forcast
"They were anticipating a slowdown in their coal business and they tightened up their operating costs to beat earnings," said Thomas Nyheim, portfolio manager at Christiana Trust Co., based in Greenville, Delaware, which holds CSX shares.