Get ready for a Fed interest rate hike this week. The February jobs report showed that the US economy added a larger than expected 235,000 jobs, the unemployment rate edged down to 4.7 percent and annual wage growth bounced back from a revised 2.6 percent in January to 2.8 percent, ahead of the 2.7 percent average seen in the second half of last year. The increase in wages demonstrates that the labor market is tightening and that state-level minimum wage hikes are filtering through the economy.
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Although the IRS code is complicated and thorny, there are plenty of legitimate ways to reduce your tax bill. Before you sit down to attack your taxes, grab last year’s return as a reference and then review your W-2s, 1099s, charitable contribution receipts. Additionally, your credit card and bank statements may be useful to jog your memory for unreimbursed business or medical expenses. Then, consider these six concepts:
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As the bull market in US stocks gets set to celebrate its eighth birthday this week, it is stunning to consider how far we have come. On March 9, 2009, here was the closing level of the three major indexes:
- Dow: 6547 – lowest level since April 15, 1997
- S&P 500: 676 – lowest level since Sept 12, 1996
- NASDAQ: 1268 – lowest level since Oct 9, 2002
