Independent Investment Management and Financial Planning
“Thru 55 trading days, 2019 is now the 4th best start to any year ever on [the S&P 500 Index].” – @OddStats
Here’s a list of those four best years, the return through day 55 and the return from that point forward for the rest of the year.
Also, yesterday the Federal Reserve essentially announced they are aborting quantitative tightening (interest rate hikes and balance sheet reduction) due to concerns of slowing growth as I also mentioned yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon, FedEx reported disappointing global revenue and earnings. This is important because package delivery tends to be closely correlated with the strength (or weakness) of the economy.
But not only did they report weaker-than-expected results, FedEx also issued an overt warning about the global economy. Specifically, FedEx’s chief financial officer stated, “Slowing international macroeconomic conditions and weaker global trade growth trends continue, as seen in the year-over-year decline in our FedEx Express international revenue.” [emphasis mine] Continue reading “FedEx’s Warning, Slowing Growth and Valuations”
Danielle DiMartino Booth, a former Federal Reserve insider, recently wrote a great article for Bloomberg. In it she provides a couple informative stats involving the relationship between unemployment rate changes and recessions.
First, she points out, “According to historic payroll data and the National Bureau of Economic Research, every time the three-month average unemployment rate exceeded its six-month average at cycle peaks over the past 50 years — like it did in January — the U.S. economy has experienced a recession.” Continue reading “Every Time This Has Happened Over the Last 50 Years A Recession Followed”
In late-2017, I shared estimated 2018 healthcare expenses for our family.
The projected costs at that time were $24,000 of premiums and a family deductible of about $15,000. Think about that for just a moment, even after paying $24,000 of premiums our family still would have been on the hook for thousands of dollars of medical expenses! Well, that wasn’t going to work at all so I researched and shared an alternative solution with you. Continue reading “Looking for a cheaper, better healthcare alternative? Here’s my experience with a health sharing arrangement.”
This morning I wanted to share a few historically-reliable recession indicators that are flashing either yellow or red (as well as one still giving the green light) to help provide more context of where the U.S. may be residing in the economic cycle.
Continue reading “A Few Important Recession Indicators Flashing Yellow and Red”