{"id":221,"date":"2019-10-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/14\/markets-hopeful-of-trade-deal-ss-cola-announced\/"},"modified":"2019-10-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-14T00:00:00","slug":"markets-hopeful-of-trade-deal-ss-cola-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/markets-hopeful-of-trade-deal-ss-cola-announced","title":{"rendered":"Markets Hopeful of Trade Deal! & SS COLA Announced!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Markets Hopeful of Trade Deal!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stock Markets rose late last week after news broke that trade negotiations are moving along in a positive manner!\u00a0 The results so far, appear to be the US has suspended a tariff increase to 30% from 25% on at least $250 billion in Chinese goods that was to take effect Tuesday, October 15th<\/sup>. No other tariffs are being changed at this time.\u00a0 In addition, China agreed to purchase $40-$50 billion in U.S. agricultural products.\u00a0 The balance of the talks is still unclear and as of this writing, much speculation is being debated.<\/p>\n

The markets rose aggressively last Friday on the trade news, which indicates investors still believe there is time to revive the global economy if a solid trade deal is signed and implemented.<\/p>\n

Markets for the Week<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

All Equity boats rose late last week pushing the averages into the positive for the week.\u00a0 The Dow rose .93%, the S&P 500 .66, the Nasdaq Composite .93% and the Russell 2000 .75%.<\/p>\n

International equities fared even better as the MSCI EAFE Developed Markets Stock Index rose 2.31% and the Emerging Markets Stock Index up 1.53%<\/p>\n

As expected, when money moves to equities, fixed income goes down.\u00a0 For the week the Barclay\u2019s Aggregate Bond Index lost (1.03%).\u00a0 The sharp 1% drop in the bond index suggests investors need to be very careful about the diversity of their fixed income (bond) holdings.<\/p>\n

This year so far, it has been advantageous to have longer dated US Treasuries, however if rates reverse course, a different, challenging outcome should be expected.<\/p>\n

Corporate Earnings Time Again<\/strong><\/p>\n

This week begins the 3rd<\/sup> quarter corporate earnings report season.\u00a0 It\u2019s no secret, trade issues have held back corporate spending which is leaving corporate profits flat, at best, for the time being.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see the results compared to the 2nd<\/sup> quarter, as 3 more months of tariff costs have been tacked on.<\/p>\n

It appears profits will be flat to slightly down for the quarter and if there is a surprise higher, it should be negligible.\u00a0 To me, this is temporarily optimistic as the high level of consumer spending is to credit for offsetting the lack of recent business spending.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, investors care about stock prices.<\/a>\u00a0 Stock prices are primarily influenced for profit increase expectations.\u00a0 For now, any optimism of a trade deal will fuel confidence that profits will again start to increase. What will happen?\u00a0<\/em> As always, Time Will Tell!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Announced!<\/strong><\/p>\n

63 Million Retirement Social Security beneficiaries<\/a> will receive a 1.6%<\/em><\/strong> increase in their benefit checks in 2020.\u00a0 The 1.6%<\/em><\/strong> is below the historic average of 2.6%. <\/em><\/strong>The maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security Tax will increase to $137,700.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Figures that impact the earnings test<\/em><\/strong> (for those who decide to collect a benefit prior to their Full Retirement Age), have also increased.<\/p>\n

For more information on the rules and most advantageous way to consider collecting your Social Security Retirement benefits, CLICK HERE<\/a> to sign up for our workshop TOMORROW @ the Moorestown Library!<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Question of the Week… On Fitness and Gyms
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The United States has more Fitness Centers (Gyms) than any other country.\u00a0 The last reported data was for 2017.\u00a0 In 2017, how many Fitness Centers (Gyms) existed in the US?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 38,477<\/li>\n
  2. 24,500<\/li>\n
  3. 15,241<\/li>\n
  4. 125,000<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Answer to last week\u2019s question\u2026!<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Two US presidents have been impeached by the House of Representatives however acquitted by the Senate.\u00a0 Which of the following presidents were impeached and acquitted?<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Bill Clinton<\/li>\n
    2. Andrew Johnson<\/li>\n
    3. Richard Nixon<\/li>\n
    4. George H. Bush<\/li>\n
    5. Lyndon Johnson<\/li>\n
    6. Gerald Ford<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The correct answers are #1 & #2! Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Markets Hopeful of Trade Deal! Stock Markets rose late last week after news broke that trade negotiations are moving along in a positive manner!\u00a0 The results so far, appear to be the US has suspended a tariff increase to 30% from 25% on at least $250 billion in Chinese goods that was to take effect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":222,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"post_statement":"","post_description":"","post_cta":"","post_button":"Read More","post_button_url":"","compliance_id":"","post_disclaimer":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,19,7,9,5,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.retirementrefined.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}