{"id":10131,"date":"2022-01-31T10:00:25","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T10:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zackspcg.com\/blog\/?p=10131"},"modified":"2022-02-26T13:05:36","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T13:05:36","slug":"fed-rate-hike-plans-grocery-supply-issues-omicron-affects-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/fed-rate-hike-plans-grocery-supply-issues-omicron-affects-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Fed Rate Hike Plans, Grocery Supply Issues, Omicron Affects Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In today\u2019s Steady\nInvestor, we cover current events that we believe are shifting the state of the\nmarket, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The\nFed\u2019s interest rate hiking plans<\/li><li>Supply\nchain issues in grocery stores<\/li><li>Omicron\u2019s\neffect on the U.S. economy <\/li><li>Status\nof oil prices<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Fed Clarifies Its\nInterest Rate Hiking Plans \u2013 <\/strong>Stock market volatility (working in both\ndirections) has been a theme of the last week. Investors appeared to be pricing\nand re-pricing the possible paths of monetary policy tightening, with worst-case\nscenarios having the Fed end QE abruptly while also raising interest rates on a\nrapid timeline. The actual outcome may be less dramatic than many fear \u2013 the\nFed said on Wednesday the central bank was poised to raise interest rates at\nits March 15-16 meeting, while also ending the purchases of Treasuries and\nmortgage securities that month as well. One potential source of concern for\nmarket watchers is whether the Fed may increase rates at every meeting, versus\nevery other meeting as had been previously hinted. When Chairman Jerome Powell\nwas asked about the pace of rate increases, he responded by saying the Fed\nwould need to be \u201cnimble,\u201d which was not necessarily the answer investors were\nhoping for. Even still, it is worth remembering that the Fed\u2019s starting point\nis one of extreme accommodation, such that tightening now could be more aptly\nbe viewed as \u2018becoming less accommodative.\u2019<sup>1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/go.steadyinvestor.com\/zim-market-correction-guide?source=zim&amp;medium=blog&amp;term=steadyinvestor_market_correction_zim_01_31_2022&amp;content=market_correction_guide\">Guard Your Investments Against the Market Correction!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As inflation worries grow, and the market enters correction\nterritory, many investors may be unsure of how to protect their investments. This\ncan cause investors to make knee-jerk decisions that run counter to long-term\ngoals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To help you navigate this turbulent time, we have put\ntogether a free guide to help you avoid the worst impacts of a sudden market\ndrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have $500,000 or more to invest, get our free guide, <a href=\"https:\/\/go.steadyinvestor.com\/zim-market-correction-guide?source=zim&amp;medium=blog&amp;term=steadyinvestor_market_correction_zim_01_31_2022&amp;content=market_correction_guide\"><strong>4 Keys to Navigating a Stock Market Correction<\/strong><\/a>. It offers the most important steps you can take to help ensure that a temporary market downturn won&#8217;t cause irreversible long-term damage to your portfolio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Supply Chain and\nLabor Issues Hit Grocery Stores \u2013 <\/strong>Have readers noticed some key items\nmissing from grocery store shelves over the last few days and weeks? The answer\nfor many is likely yes, and the cause, perhaps obviously, is the strain in\nsupply chains and labor markets caused by the Omicron variant. According to a\nsurvey from the U.S. Census Bureau, some 8.8 million Americans were out of work\ndue to sickness or having to care for someone with Covid-19. Labor shortages\nbeget supply chain problems, as the lack of workers at processing plants and in\nlogistics can result in products not reaching shelves in time. Earlier in the\npandemic, part of the problem was customers clearing out shelves in\nanticipation of a long-winded lockdown, and today the problem stems from the\nsupply side. According to food-industry executives, we should expect these\nproblems to persist for weeks or even months as the current wave of infections\nabates.<sup>3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>U.S. Economy Delivers\nStrong Growth in 2021, But Omicron Impacts the Start of 2022 \u2013 <\/strong>According to\nthe Commerce Department, the U.S. economy grew 1.7% in Q4 2021 (6.9% on an\nannualized basis). The strong finish to the year capped off what was a historic\nyear in terms of an economic rebound, with the U.S. economy expanding at 5.7% \u2013\nits fastest pace in nearly 40 years. The strong pace may have run into some\nspeedbumps at the turn of the year, however, with the Omicron variant creating\ndisruptions as mentioned above. According to manufacturing and services surveys\nconducted by IHS Markit, the U.S. economy pulled back substantially in terms of\nfactory activity and services consumption at the turn of the year. The IHS\ncomposite purchasing managers index, which takes into account both services and\nmanufacturing, fell from 57 in December to 50.8 in January \u2013 a steep decline in\nactivity. While any reading above 50 indicates expansion, it is fair to say\nthat the variant may have caused economic activity to plateau in the short term.<sup>4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Will Oil Hit $100 a\nBarrel by Summer? <\/strong>Some Wall Street forecasts are now calling for a barrel\nof crude oil to hit $100 by summer, given persistent and robust global demand\nbeing met with lagging supply. According to the International Energy Agency,\nOPEC+ has been falling significantly short of its promises to increase oil\nsupply to the markets, lagging by some 790,000 barrels of oil a day. The\ngroup\u2019s inability to meet higher quotas has fueled speculation that oil prices\ncould keep charting higher into the warmer months. Meanwhile, the U.S. has not\nseen substantial increases in well drilling over the past few months, though\nhigher prices would in theory encourage producers to bring more supply online.<sup>5<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to Navigate a Market Correction &#8211; <\/strong>Volatility has\nshifted the market in many ways this year, and for those who are unsure of how\nto navigate a market correction, we want you to be prepared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With that being said, now is the perfect time to base your\ninvesting decisions on research and fundamentals. To help you do this, we have\ncreated a guide, <em>4 Keys to Navigating a Stock Market Correction<sup>3<\/sup>.<\/em>\nThis guide answers question like \u2013 <em>Are there any silver linings that come\nwith it? What are some ways to navigate through it? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to learn\nmore, click on the link below to download our latest guide: <em>4 Keys to\nNavigating a Stock Market Correction<sup>6<\/sup>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fed suggests first rate increase in March, Omicron empties grocery store shelves, oil could hit $100\/barrel by summer<\/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-10131","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\/10131","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=10131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10209,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10131\/revisions\/10209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}