Get ready for the first Fed rate hike of 2018. Newly minted Fed Chair Jerome Powell will preside over this week’s two-day meeting, where officials will also release their updated economic projections and future rate hikes. Analysts at Capital Economics believe that Fed “consensus is shifting from three to four rate hikes this year.”
Read MoreWhat better way to celebrate the ninth anniversary of the bull market than with a strong employment report? The economy created a better than expected 313,000 new jobs in February, higher than the anticipated 200,000. The strength was seen across a variety of sectors: retail increased by 50,300, construction was up 61,000, manufacturing added 31,000 jobs and professional & business services employment added 50,000.
Read MoreAfter announcing that he would introduce new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, the President tweeted “Trade wars are good”…investors are not so sure. While some would argue that Trump is just making good on his promise to level the international trade playing field, others are concerned that this potential action will hurt the US economy and more importantly, trigger a trade war that could result in the next global recession. You know it’s serious when the Wall Street editorial board called the tariffs “the biggest policy blunder of his presidency”!
Read MoreWarren Buffett just released the 2017 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter, an annual
missive that is part performance review and part market wisdom, often offered with a
healthy dose of humor and a few jabs at the financial services industry. (One of my
favorites: “When trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it
will usually be the managers who reap outsized profits, not the clients.”)
Worries about rising inflation have spooked stock and bond investors. As a reminder, inflation occurs when the prices of goods and services rise and as a result, every dollar you spend in the economy purchases less. The annual rate of inflation over from 1917 until 2017 has averaged just over 3 percent annually. That might not sound like much, but consider this: today you need $7,272.09 in cash to buy what $1,000 could buy in 50 years ago.
Read MoreWe knew that a stock market correction was coming, but why then did everyone seem so shocked when it arrived on Februarys 8th? Corrections, defined as 10 percent drops from the recent highs (January 26th), usually occur every year or so. Until last week, it had been two full years since the major US indexes had corrected. In other words, we were overdue for a drop.
Read MoreTax season opened on January 29 and the IRS expects more than 155 million returns to be filed this year, of which more than 70 percent should receive a refund. Once again, due to a Washington DC holiday (Emancipation Day), the filing deadline is delayed. Procrastinators, mark April 17th, rather than April 15th as your drop-dead date.
Read MoreMy Ten Questions to Ask a Financial Pro:
Read MoreStock investors are coming off the worst week in two years, leading to the inevitable question: What should I do when the market drops? The answer for long-term investors is clear: nothing.
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