Why Do Markets Want the Fed to Continue Easing?
Read financial media today and you’ll find instance after instance of business executives and financial industry professionals worried about the Federal Reserve’s tightening of monetary policy. Mind you, this comes at a time when the target federal funds rate remains a hair over two percent, which is historically still very low. The Fed’s balance sheet, too, remains incredibly large,...
What Can Investors Expect From the New Congress?
With a new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and Republicans maintaining the majority in the Senate, what can investors expect to see from the new Congress and how might new legislation affect them? This is the first time in nearly a decade that Democrats have held power in Congress, and it’s an unusual split that sees the...
Now Is the Time to Protect Your Retirement Assets: Here’s Why
Thanks to the stock market’s performance since 2016 there are now more 401(k) millionaires than ever. It’s pretty heady stuff to think that you’re a millionaire, but many of these newly-minted paper millionaires don’t realize just how fragile their wealth can be. All it takes is a severe stock market crash and all that hard-earned savings and investment can...
Central Banks Buying More Gold Now Than in Years: What Do They Know?
Gold has been almost universally derided by governments in recent decades. Finally freed from the strictures of the gold standard, central banks and governments around the world have done their best to propagandize their people that gold is nothing more than a “barbarous relic.” For a while it seemed to be working, with gold prices trading in a narrow...
Latest Jobs Report: The Last Hurrah for the US Economy?
The latest jobs report was heralded by mainstream media as another indication that the US economy is humming along just fine. The consensus estimate of 190,000-200,000 jobs added was blown away by the actual 250,000 jobs reported. The unemployment rate is now at 3.7%, and wages increased year-on-year at over 3% for the first time since 2009. But looking...
How to Destroy Your Dreams of Retirement
Planning for retirement isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be horribly difficult either. Hard work and dedication can make just about anyone’s retirement dreams come true. Despite that, many Americans hamstring themselves when it comes to saving for retirement. From not saving early enough to spending too much money while they’re working, they fail to do what they...
If QE Ending Causes This Much Pain, What Happens When QE Unwinds?
Stock markets have been topsy-turvy in recent weeks, with investors continuing to remain nervous about the direction of markets as interest rates continue to rise. President Trump has blamed the Federal Reserve and its raising of the target federal funds rate for weakening the economy and unnerving markets. But if merely raising rates has caused this much unease in...
Tired of the Stock Market Roller Coaster? Look to Gold
Recent weeks have seen stocks all over the map. From reaching new highs near 27,000 earlier this month to finishing last week over 2,000 points below those highs, investors have been plunged into an uncertainty they hadn’t experienced since February. Back then, many investors didn’t know what to do, as markets plunged but then seemed to recover. Once the...
Beware the Bounce: Stocks Won’t Be Going Any Higher
The rebound in stock markets earlier this month had many investors believing that the turbulent and volatile behavior of markets that has occurred since the highs reached in February was finally over. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 reached new highs and commentators everywhere were touting that as proof that the economy was on fire and markets were poised...
The Fed Will Not Be Able to Work Any Miracles
Despite the wishes of many investors, stock markets will not continue to march onward to new highs. The massive growth of stock market indexes over the past few years had its roots in the Federal Reserve’s easy monetary policy that grew to enormous heights in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Cheap, readily available money inflated yet another stock...