The current bull market is a month away from being the\nlongest economic expansion in history! What\u2019s next for the market? Read on to\nget details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Longest U.S.\nEconomic Expansion Ever (Almost) \u2013 <\/strong>The current U.S. economic expansion,\nwhich began in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2009, now only\nneeds one more month to become the longest in our country\u2019s history. Chances\nare, the U.S. will continue growing through the summer, and in our view,\nthroughout the balance of the year. But even though the country has been\ngrowing, adding jobs, growing wages, and increasing household wealth over the\nlast decade, this economic expansion and bull market rarely find themselves receiving\npraise from investors and market-watchers. Indeed, the narrative typically\ncenters around how slow growth rates have been, projections for when the expansion\nwill come to an end, or complaints about how the expansion has favored some but\nnot others. In our view, maybe this summer would be a good time to herald the\neconomic expansion for what it is \u2013 the longest in U.S. history \u2013 and reflect\non how resilient the U.S. economy has been in the wake of a financial crisis\nand amidst an ongoing trade dispute. Business cycles have historically lasted\nbetween 5 and 8 years, so the fact that the current one is 10 years old is an\naccomplishment in and of itself.1<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 9 of the biggest financial mistakes you should avoid!<\/a><\/strong> ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Huge Merger Seeks\nto Challenge Boeing\u2019s Market Dominance \u2013 <\/strong>The world\u2019s second largest\naerospace and defense company was created this week by a merger. United\nTechnologies reached an all-stock deal to merge with Raytheon, a defense\ncontractor that derives 80% of its revenue from the U.S. and foreign government\ncontracts. Raytheon\u2019s \u2018Patriot\u2019 missile system, for instance, is used by 9\n(friendly) nations. With nearly $400 billion of government contracts awarded in\n2017, the merged company \u2013 Raytheon Technologies \u2013 hopes to competitively bid\nfor a larger share of the pie. The two companies make for an interesting,\ncompetitive, and likely very innovative pair. United Technologies makes the\nengines that power F-35 fighter jets, while Raytheon manufactures the Tomahawk\ncruise missiles that U.S. Navy ships rely upon in combat. The deal is yet to be\napproved by U.S. regulators, but market-watchers anticipate that it will get\nthe green light. The combined company is expected to be valued at over $100\nbillion.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Tenuous\nRegulatory Environment for Big Banks \u2013 <\/strong>in the aftermath of the global\nfinancial crisis, the Dodd-Frank legislation for regulating big banks was largely\nseen as a tangled web of rules that created more uncertainty for how banks\nshould take and assess risk. Today, nearly 10 years later, the rules of the\nroad are still muddied for Wall Street\u2019s biggest banks, as Republican lawmakers\nhave been at work rolling back regulations but have not worked at the pace that\nmany big banks had hoped for. Lawmakers now see the window for regulatory\nrollback narrowing with the 2020 elections ahead, and as a result they have\nbeen pressing top officials at the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and the OCC to\nmove more quickly to ease restrictions on the financial sector. For big banks,\nin our view, the issue isn\u2019t so much having new rules or regulations, it\u2019s\nhaving the certainty <\/em>of knowing what\nthe final regulations will look like.4<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n The 3-Pronged\nChallenge Facing Fed Chair Jerome Powell \u2013 <\/strong>Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome\nPowell, is being challenged on three different levels in his efforts to run the\nworld\u2019s largest central bank. On one hand, Mr. Powell\u2019s top mandate is to set policy\nthat will allow the U.S. economy to continue expanding within target inflation\nlevels and close to full employment. On the other, Mr. Powell is facing immense\npolitical pressure to lower rates in an effort to juice the U.S. economy and\nmarkets, but he must find a way to maintain the Fed\u2019s independence when setting\npolicy. Finally, on yet another hand, Mr. Powell is challenged with informing\nthe public of exactly what the Fed does and why, and how these decisions are\ndata-dependent and in the U.S. economy\u2019s best interests. It\u2019s not an enviable\nposition Mr. Powell finds himself in, and the Fed\u2019s meetings this summer will\ndraw more scrutiny than any other Fed meetings in recent history. Good luck,\nMr. Chairman.5<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n We can\u2019t predict or control what is in store for\nthe market, but investors can stay focused on making sure their own actions\nhelp guide their investments to succeed. One way to do this is not to fall prey\nto common investing mistakes. Economic expansion nears 10 years, big banks seek regulatory decisions, plus more <\/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-8074","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\/8074","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=8074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10747,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8074\/revisions\/10747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The current economic expansion may be old, but it\u2019s not over yet. Looking toward the remainder of this bull market, many investors may be wondering what to do and how to prepare for what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
See what we believe are the biggest mistakes investors make and how to avoid them with our guide, \u201c9 Retirement Mistakes to Avoid.\u201d
If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to learn more, click on the link below:
<\/a>Learn About the 9 Retirement Mistakes to Avoid!<\/a>2<\/a><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nThere are common mistakes and habits that can\nhelp some investors succeed while others fail. To help you understand some of\nthese mistakes and how to avoid them, we have created the guide, \u201c9 Retirement\nMistakes to Avoid.\u201d6<\/sup>
\n
\nIn this guide, we provide our thoughts on what\nwe believe are 9 of the biggest retirement mistakes investors\nshould avoid<\/strong>. If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to learn\nmore, click on the link below:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"