With Tax Day (April 17) rapidly approaching, here are some last minute tax prep tips to help get you to the finish line!
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Just as fast as you could say Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 the U.S. - China tariff tiff entered Round 3 last week. As a recap, here’s where we stand:
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It’s time to drop an F-Bomb: let’s talk FIDUCIARY! The big news this spring is that the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. has announced a change to its Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct. Starting October 1, 2019, CFP® professionals must act in the best interest of the client at all times when providing financial advice. This is the so-called fiduciary standard, which has been in the news ever since the Department of Labor (“DOL”) created its own rule in 2016.
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Welcome to the stock market roller coaster! It’s a bit jarring, especially on the heels of the tranquil 2017 merry go round, but as the bull market in stocks enters its tenth year, volatility abounds. Investors probably feel a bit of relief that the major indexes finished the first three months of the year with relatively small losses (Dow down 2.5 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 1.2 percent and the Russell 2000 was off 0.4 percent) or gains (NASDAQ up 2.3 percent, despite a 9.5 percent drop in Facebook) but that’s like saying the roller coaster ride ended in the small place that it started: what happened in between is where the action occurred.
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It’s been more than five years since housing prices bottomed out. Since then, the economy has strengthened, the labor market has improved and mortgage rates remain historically low. All of those factors should add up to a robust spring housing season, but that’s not what’s going on. Instead, realtors and builders are lamenting the low number of homes for sale.
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Stocks dropped by nearly 3 percent Thursday and another 2 percent on Friday, closing out the steepest one-week percentage decline for US indexes since January 2016. The proximate cause was President Trump's announcement that the U.S. would levy 25 percent tariffs on up to $60 billion dollars worth of Chinese imports.
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The folks at the Internal Revenue Service have an uncanny sense of timing. Most of us prepare our individual tax returns just as the clocks spring ahead and the calendar says that the Vernal Equinox will bring longer and warmer days. To celebrate, clean out the cobwebs, fire up the shredder, prepare to hit the delete button and get ready to clean up your financial life!
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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.”
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What 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.
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