The Federal Reserve recently voted to cut interest rates, shaving 0.5% off the benchmark .1 Markets rallied exuberantly at the news, reaching new highs.2 Why did the Federal Reserve cut rates? With inflation on a strong downward trajectory and concerns about economic weakness rising, the Fed clearly decided now was the right time to cut. […]
Whenever you listen to financial experts, there’s one topic that will almost always come up: interest rates. But what do interest rates have to do with your portfolio and wealth? It turns out, a whole lot. When you hear the term “interest rates” on the news, it’s usually referring to the Federal Funds Rate, which […]
It’s been a wild August for markets. Recession fears kicked off the worst selloff since 2022 at the beginning of the month. Then markets staged a choppy recovery, even notching the strongest week of the year along the way.1 That’s not so surprising. It’s very common for a strong recovery to follow a selloff. It’s […]
We’re sure you saw the headlines. After hitting new highs last month, markets dropped dramatically, erasing months of gains.1 It feels like the sky is falling. Let’s take a step back and take a look at what’s going on. (Scroll to the end if you want our takeaways.) What’s behind the market drop? A couple […]
When you see headlines like, “Nvidia becomes world’s most valuable company…”1 Or read that a few stocks are responsible for most of the market’s gains… Or see some newsletter bragging about a X,XXX% return on a single stock pick… It’s natural to wish you could go back in time, invest in a “sure thing,” and […]
After months of simmering inflation reports, it looks like inflation finally eased slightly in April.1 Are prices stabilizing? Can we breathe a sigh of relief? Let’s dig a little deeper. What’s inside the latest inflation report? Economists typically look at two major inflation gauges: the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Personal Consumption Expenditures Index […]
New research has found a new “magic” retirement savings number. (We explain how inflation factors in below.) We say “magic” because if you put 10 people in a room, you’ll get 10 different opinions about how much you should save for retirement. And this estimate is no different. Northwestern Mutual surveyed 4,588 adults and found: […]
The Federal Reserve has been in the headlines a lot lately as analysts try to figure out when policymakers will cut interest rates. Why does the Fed matter so much? Let’s discuss. The Fed’s decisions on interest rates are a big deal for markets and the economy because they affect how much it costs to […]
The S&P 500 broke the 5,000 level recently for the first time in history as investors embraced euphoria and rallied.1 And then tumbled as investors got jittery.2 Then yo-yo’d a bit more. What’s going on? Let’s talk about investor psychology. Fear and greed are the two halves of the investor psychology coin. When investors are feeling […]
It’s official. The bear market is behind us. The S&P 500 finally hit a new record for the first time since 2022. And then notched multiple higher highs in the days that followed.1 That means it has passed the final bar to formalize the bull market in stocks that started after the October 2022 market […]
