With all the recent headlines surrounding the current state of the market, we are taking a deeper dive into key factors that we believe investors should keep an eye on, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Top Fed Official Signals That Interest Rate Increases Could Slow \u2013 <\/strong>The Federal Reserve\u2019s second in command, Lael Brainard, said this week that the Fed was likely to slow the pace of fed-funds rate increases down to 50 basis points in December. The central bank has raised rates by 75 basis points at four consecutive meetings, bringing the benchmark rate to a range of 3.75% and 4%. Ms. Brainard cited positive developments in U.S. inflation readings, with the consumer price index (CPI) increasing 7.7% year-over-year in October. This rate of inflation is still quite high, but it also marks a meaningful decline from June\u2019s peak 9.1% rate and the 8.2% print in September. When the volatile food and energy categories are stripped out, the \u2018core CPI\u2019 was seen rising 6.3% year-over-year in October, down from the 6.6% rate in September. Ms. Brainard indicated that slowing down the pace of rate increases would allow the Fed to examine the effects on slowing the economy, which usually occurs with a lag.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n _________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Happens to Your Investments if a Recession Hits?<\/a><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No one quite knows when this bear market will end\u2026or what\u2019s next for the market. And as the Fed continues to fight inflation, some investors are questioning a potential recession ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re at or near retirement, a recession may require pivoting your retirement investing strategy. The market turbulence and uncertainty are scary\u2014but now is the time to take action and prepare yourself for the coming months. It\u2019s important to understand the following \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n ____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n China and Japan Suffer Economic Slowdown \u2013 <\/strong>China and Japan have been suffering economic setbacks over the last few months. In China, the strict zero-Covid policies, falling exports, and a crumbling of the real estate sector have dragged growth down. Data out last week showed that China\u2019s retail sales fell for the first time in five months and factory output also slowed. Adding to the challenges for global investors is the fact that China\u2019s National Bureau of Statistics canceled the release of quarterly GDP data with no explanation recently, and days earlier the customs agency withheld trade data with no update for when the data may be released. Many analysts have lately turned to satellite imagery to gauge production and consumption activity, which in 2022 has pointed to significant weakness relative to 2021 and pre-pandemic. Japan is also struggling \u2013 its economy contracted in Q3 for the first time in a year, with GDP falling -0.3% quarter-over-quarter and -1.2% year-over-year.3<\/sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Where are the Young Gen Z Workers? <\/strong>There is an ongoing mystery in the U.S. labor market, and it involves young Gen Z workers (ages 20 to 24). Over the last year and a half, most workers across age groups have returned to the labor force, bringing the labor force participation rate roughly to the same level it was prior to the pandemic. But there\u2019s one group missing: Gen Z\u2019ers in their early 20s. For this category, the labor force participation rate averaged 72.1% in 2019 but stands at just 70.8% as of October 2022. In nominal terms, that means about 500,000 people in their early 20s have not returned to the workforce since the pandemic. There are a few theories for why this may be occurring. For one, some of this segment decided to enter graduate school in the wake of the pandemic, perhaps reluctant to dive back in. But perhaps the bigger reason is the still-tight labor market, and the thinking that a Gen Z\u2019er can wait for a \u2018better\u2019 opportunity to show up. With layoffs hitting major technology companies and early signs that the labor market is softening, these Gen Z\u2019ers may not want to wait too much longer.4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Current Bear Market Could Mean a Recession? <\/strong>Are your investments protected if another recession occurs? This is a very important question that investors need to ask themselves during this bear market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re at or near retirement, a recession may require pivoting your retirement investing strategy. It\u2019s important to understand how recessions work, how long they last, and how to potentially protect yourself and your family from long-term damage to your assets and security. We can help you with our free guide, A Recession is Coming: 6 Insights to Know Now So You\u2019re Prepared<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.5<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have $500,000 or more to invest, get our free guide today. You\u2019ll learn the scope and impact of recessions, and get our viewpoint on the most important moves you can make to weather this one. Don\u2019t wait\u2014get this guide today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In this week\u2019s Steady Investor, we take a look at the state of rising interest rates, China and Japan\u2019s economic slowdown, and the young Gen Z workers impact on this labor market<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-private-client-group","category-steady-investors-week"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12082","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=12082"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12084,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12082\/revisions\/12084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
<\/u><\/strong>If you have $500,000 or more to invest, get our free guide. You\u2019ll learn the scope and impact of recessions, and get our viewpoint on the most important moves you can make to weather a potential one. Don\u2019t wait\u2014get this guide today!
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Download Your Copy Today:\u00a0A Recession is Coming: 6 Insights to Know You\u2019re Prepared<\/em><\/a><\/u><\/strong>2<\/sup><\/u><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n