Local investors should not allow the short-time stock market fluctuations to derail their long-term investment decisions.

That was the message of Luke Manfre, of Edward Jones Investments’ Morgan City office, to investors.

“Today’s stock market volatility is being fueled by fear — fear over U.S. and European debt, not by market fundamentals, which we believe are generally strong,” Manfre said. “We believe that long-term investors should stay the course if they have a well-diversified portfolio of quality investments and a long-term perspective.”

Manfre said he does not see today’s volatility as a repeat of 2008 when the country was in a recession and a financial crisis.

“Because there are now fundamental differences in economic and market conditions, we believe this has the potential to present good opportunities for long-term investors to purchase quality investments at lower prices,” Manfre said.

He cites positive economic growth, an additional one million jobs added in the first seven months of the year compared to about the same as in all of 2010 and record high corporate earnings as indicators of strong market fundamentals.

“In addition, oil prices are lower, giving consumers some help, and U.S. financial companies in general are in better shape as many are much better capitalized and have reduced risks in their businesses,” Manfre said.