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Categories for Stock Market News

  • How Will Surging Oil Prices Impact the Economy in 2021?

    Posted Date March 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 pm Published in

    Now that the Keystone XL pipeline is being shut down and southern parts of the United States are experiencing extremely cold weather, how will increasing oil prices impact the economy as the COVID-19 vaccine is being rolled out? With West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude closing at $58.22 per barrel on Feb. 11, 2021, and likely higher due to the cold snap in the United States, the price of oil is expected to impact the U.S. and global economy. Consumer Demand One of the major impacts of increasing oil prices is the rising price of gasoline. With higher oil prices rippling... View Article

  • How Will Single Party Governing Impact the Markets in 2021?

    Posted Date February 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 pm Published in

    About four in 10 Americans (41 percent) look positively toward single-party control at the national level, according to an October 2020 Gallup annual governance survey. This is compared to 23 percent of respondents desiring multiparty control. Breaking it down by party, 43 percent of Democrats want single-party rule, while 52 percent of Republicans desire single-party governance. One notable finding is that, looking back to 2002, 32 percent preferred single-party control when it comes to independents. This was the highest-ranking over the past 18 years. As the Brookings Institution points out, now that Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock are... View Article

  • How Will the Biden Administration’s China Policy Impact Markets?

    Posted Date January 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 pm Published in

    The Obama and Trump administrations couldn’t have had a more different approach when it came to U.S. relations with China. As the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS) explains, under the Obama administration, the United States favored a trade and investment approach when dealing with China, while the Trump administration had a national security focus. The ICAS believes the Biden administration will address trade and economic imbalances through a modified approach, including reducing tariffs on imported Chinese goods over time to decrease inflation for American consumers. Another example is maintaining pressure on China to cut government subsidies for competing industries, currency... View Article

  • How Will the Biden Administration Influence the Federal Reserve?

    Posted Date December 1, 2020 Posted Time 12:00 pm Published in

    With the nation on the precipice of a transition of administrations on Jan. 20, 2021, there will need to be many roles filled both in and out of the White House. With the potential for Janet Yellen to replace Steven Mnuchin as the next treasury secretary, there is much speculation about how the Federal Reserve will be shaped by the Biden administration. Predicting Changes to the Federal Reserve When 2022 arrives, Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell’s term will expire. While presidents have historically given another term to first-term chairs who were appointed by the outgoing administration, there is... View Article

  • How Would a Second Stimulus Check Impact Markets?

    Posted Date November 1, 2020 Posted Time 12:00 pm Published in

    The $1,200 stimulus check sent out to individuals had mixed impacts on our economy, based on academic research, including by the University of California-Davis. For recipients with $3,000 or more in their bank accounts, there was no positive impact on the economy. However, for recipients with bank account balances up to $500, they spent 44.5 percent of their check, on average, within 10 days of receiving the stimulus check. The first stimulus check was part of the CARES Act, which guided how the checks were issued: The IRS began with those who filed 2018 and/or 2019 taxes, and looked at... View Article

  • Examining Fed’s New Targeted Inflation Policy

    Posted Date October 1, 2020 Posted Time 12:00 pm Published in

    Looking back to 2012, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) – a collaboration of the 12 regional Fed banks and the Federal Reserve Governors in Washington – came together and published a Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy. This officially rang in the FOMC’s public commitment to maintain inflation at 2 percent. It is based on a yearly change in the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, and is in accordance with The Federal Reserve’s “mandate for maximum employment and price stability.” Guided by three events in the economy, according to the Brookings Institution, the FOMC was prompted... View Article

  • How Will Monetary Policy Impact Markets Going Forward?

    Posted Date September 1, 2020 Posted Time 12:00 pm Published in

    With gold hitting $2,000 an ounce in recent days, coupled with the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy creating a lot of liquidity, how will markets perform for the rest of 2020 and beyond? Based on a reading from the Federal Reserve’s minutes from its July 28 to July 29 meeting, the Fed remarked that the ongoing pandemic would continue to put a strain on the economy, slowing expansion and causing additional damage to the country’s monetary framework. The Fed highlighted the nation’s GDP drop by 32.9 percent in the second quarter. While Q3 growth is expected to be positive, that was... View Article

  • How Will the Market Price in Q2 Earnings?

    Posted Date August 1, 2020 Posted Time 12:00 pm Published in

    The New York Fed Staff Nowcast predicts a negative 14.3 percent (-14.3 percent) growth of real GDP for Q2 of 2020 and a positive 13.2 percent growth of real GDP for Q3 of 2020. Clearly, the Fed is expecting a rebound in the second half of 2020. This forecast, presented in the July 17, 2020: New York Fed Staff Nowcast, attributes better than expected results for industrial production, capacity utilization, and retail sales data categories, resulting in the upward revision. For June 2020, the forecast for the Industrial Production Index was 2.48, but the actual figure was 5.41. As the... View Article

  • How Likely Would a Second Coronavirus Wave Negatively Impact the Stock Market?

    Posted Date July 1, 2020 Posted Time 12:00 pm Published in

    As Johns Hopkins University of Medicine’s Coronavirus Resource Center revealed a recent increase of coronavirus cases in the Southern and Southwestern United States, the VIX ticked up. With fears of the outbreak curve not flattening, how will this impact markets? The Volatility Index (VIX) was established by the Chicago Board Options Exchange in 1993 to gauge volatility in the financial markets. Referred to colloquially as the “fear index”, it measures the next 30 days of anticipated volatility for the U.S. Stock Market via S&P 500 options. For reference, during the peak of the 2008 financial crisis, it topped out at... View Article

  • Are Dividends Becoming a Luxury During the Coronavirus Pandemic?

    Posted Date June 1, 2020 Posted Time 12:00 pm Published in

    According to the futures market, Chicago Mercantile Exchange contracts are forecasting a drop of 27 percent in dividends over 24 months for the S&P 500 index. Dividends are projected to fall to $42.05 in 2021, a drop from 2020’s dividend of $47.55 and 2019’s high of $58.24. Looking forward to 2026, according to CME’s futures contract, the dividend is expected to recover to $56.65. While the latter years are not as likely as what’s up next, it’s worth taking note. Although these dividend levels have already been announced, the future doesn’t look much brighter. According to Goldman Sachs, Q2 economic... View Article

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