Will Omicron Slow the\nU.S. and Global Economy? <\/strong>Reports of rapidly rising Omicron (Covid-19) cases\nhave gone global. Here in the U.S., the rapid spread in some parts of the\ncountry has caused consumers to pull back and some employees to skip work,\neither to avoid getting infected or to avoid spreading to others. Some of the\nretrenchment is starting to appear in the economic data \u2013 the number of seated\ndiners at restaurants was down 15% in the week ended December 22 (compared to\nthe same period in 2019), and U.S. hotel occupancy was at a very low 53.8% for\nthe week ended December 18. There have also been increasing reports of shows\nbeing canceled, classes shifting online, and offices reversing reopening plans.\nTaken together, these changes in consumer and worker behaviors appear likely to\nimpact Q4 2021 and Q1 2022 GDP growth figures. The latest estimate for Q4 shows\nthe U.S. economy expanding at approximately 7.6%, but that figure is likely to\ncome down, and Q1 2022 estimates are likely to be cut in half in the coming\nweeks. Even still, each iteration of a pandemic wave has had a smaller impact\non overall economic growth, and in our view, the impact of the Omicron variant\nis likely to be smaller than the impact of the Delta variant.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Retiring Soon? Get Our Retiree Checklist!<\/a><\/strong> That doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t make the most of this new phase\nin your life! <\/p>\n\n\n\n To help you do this, we are offering readers our free guide\nthat provides a step-by-step blueprint to potentially help you build a sound\nretirement portfolio. This guide\noffers you a checklist of the most important financial, tax, and investment\nconsiderations for new retirees, with detailed explanations to help you prepare\nfor this new stage in your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have\n$500,000 or more to invest, get our free guide today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Download Zacks Guide, Looking to Retire Soon<\/a>2<\/a><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wages Move Higher,\nProviding a Headwind to Inflationary Effects \u2013 <\/strong>Inflation has been the big\nstory in 2021, but we think it is important to also acknowledge a\ncountervailing force \u2013 rising wages \u2013 that could offset the impact of rising\nprices. Indeed, U.S. professionals in 2021 have experienced the biggest\ncompensation increase in almost 20 years, according to the Department of Labor.\nInflation, of course, is also running its hottest in close to 40 years, so the\n\u2018real\u2019 impact of rising wages is muted relative to rising everyday expenses.\nLooking ahead, however, there is a distinct possibility that inflation\npressures could fade while wages remain at newer, higher levels. For private-sector\nworkers in aggregate, wages grew at a 4.6% year-over-year pace in Q3 2021, with\nthe biggest increases landing in service sector occupations like retail and\nhospitality. For higher-skilled workers in management, business, and financial\noccupations, wages rose by a lesser 3.9% over the same period, but this\nincrease still marks the fastest pace of rising wages since 2003 for this\ngroup. In our view, there is a reasonably good chance that wages will keep\nrising in 2022 as inflation moderates. According to the Conference Board,\nemployers are setting aside an average of 3.9% of total payroll for wage\nincreases in the new year, the most since 2008.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n What Will Corporate\nEarnings Look Like in 2022? <\/strong>In the third quarter\nof 2021, U.S. corporate earnings notched a new all-time quarterly record,\nsurpassing the record set in the preceding period. What will Q4 2021 and beyond\nlook like? So far, Q4 2021 looks to be another strong quarter, even though\nestimates have come down slightly over the past few weeks4<\/sup>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our view, falling earnings\ngrowth estimates are tied to the Omicron impact, but we could also be at the\nbeginning of a normalization of earnings trends from a relatively bizarre and\nunexpected two-year period. Earnings surprises \u2013 which have largely been to the\nupside \u2013 are moderating towards the longer-term trend. The aggregate tally of\ntotal earnings remains very high, and there is a breadth of strength across all\nthe key sectors. But we also know that the unusually high growth rates of 2021\nwill not continue into the new year, as they in part reflect easy comparisons\nto the year-earlier periods that were severely impacted by Covid-related\ndisruptions. This \u2018return to normalcy\u2019 does not necessarily have to be a\nnegative, as long as corporations continue to meet or exceed expectations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Planning to Retire\nThis Year? <\/strong>\u2013 If you\u2019ve\nbeen planning to retire for a while, now is the time to get ready! Retirement\nmarks the end of one life stage, but also the beginning of another\u2014full of new\nadventures and opportunities. To guide you through this new phase, we recommend\na thorough review of your financial and investment situation so you can make\nany adjustments necessary to keep your plans and lifestyle on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to\nunderstand your retirement options, get our guide, Looking to Retire Soon.<\/em>5\n<\/sup>Simply click on the link below to get your copy today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Omicron less damaging than previous waves, wage hikes offset inflation, 2022 earnings expected to normalize<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-private-client-group","category-steady-investors-week"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10226,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10087\/revisions\/10226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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The new year brings a fresh start. As investors are still uncertain about the market performance within the next few months, we understand how difficult it can be to make future financial decisions \u2013 especially for those who are trying to build their retirement portfolio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/pic1-1-1024x662.png\")
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