125 Search Results for: covid
-
Market Commentary: Fed Expected to Accelerate Pace of Rate Hikes, Reduce Balance Sheet
Corporate earnings comparisons are getting more difficult. Factset reports first quarter S&P 500 earnings are expected to rise 4.5%. Earnings growth will likely increase during the quarter as companies deliberately push earnings estimates lower so they can produce positive surprises. Wh …
Read more -
What You Need to Do 10, 5 and 1 Year Before Retirement
by Jamie P. Hopkins, ESQ., CFP®, LLM, CLU®, ChFC®, RICP® Regardless of how far off you are from retirement, there’s one main goal your planning should be working toward: saving enough so that you don’t outlive your money.
Read more -
Market Commentary: US Sees Robust Job Numbers; S&P 500 Closes Out Negative Quarter
The U.S. economy has continued to create jobs. The establishment report, which measures jobs at known entities, added 431,000 new jobs last month. Economists expected 478,000 new jobs. The previous two months were revised higher by nearly 100,000, making up for the slight miss. Unemployment …
Read more -
Market Commentary: Fed Officials Indicate Faster Pace, Steeper Hikes for Interest Rate Increases
Initial jobless claims reached their lowest level since September 1969. Continuing claims fell to 1.35 million and reached their lowest level since 1970. The labor force was half as large then as it is today. Concerns about inflation, excess demand, and uncertainty about Russia’s attack on …
Read more -
Market Commentary: To Combat Inflation, Fed Plans 6 More Interest Rate Hikes, Surprising Investors
The Federal Reserve both met expectations and surprised investors at the same time last week. As expected, the Fed raised rates 0.25%, beginning to unwind the sharp rate reductions it implemented to protect the economy during the early stages of COVID-19. The surprise was the announced inte …
Read more -
Market Commentary: Fed Poised to Raise Rates this Week, Could Signal Future Increases
Inflation continued to bound higher last month. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) climbed 0.8% last month and is 7.9% higher than one year ago. The big culprits were food and energy. Food prices leapt 1% last month and gasoline prices increased 6.6% as part of an increase in overall energy pri …
Read more -
Market Commentary: Risk of Expanded Russian Conflict Pushes Markets Lower; US Economy Adds 678,000 Jobs
Concerns the Russian invasion of Ukraine will draw more countries into the conflict raised risk and pushed global markets lower. Statements about nuclear forces going on alert and world leaders discussing a no-fly zone concerned investors.
Read more -
Market Commentary: Russia-Ukraine Tensions, Inflation Among Contributors to Market Volatility After Relatively Calm 2021
Market uncertainty on multiple fronts is making it tough for investors. Russia’s ambitions in Ukraine, inflation, and some upheaval in individual securities are making it more challenging to bear risk than last year. 2021 was relatively calm, with only 80% as many 1% daily moves in the mark …
Read more -
Trends to Watch Out for in Q1 2022
We’re in a pretty interesting juncture in the markets. As we kick off the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the omicron variant is spreading across the country.
Read more -
Market Commentary: U.S. Inflation Challenges Likely Linked to Robust Government Aid, Policy Changes
Inflation remains a challenge to the U.S. economy. CPI rose 0.5% in December and surged 7.1% during the last year. It wasn’t all food and energy prices. Core inflation, which excludes those more volatile elements, increased 0.5% as well. As the bright blue line in Figure 1 shows, inflation …
Read more