This week we saw – new\ndevelopments in free trade, a natural gas dilemma in the U.S. and the Fed\ngearing up for their late July meeting. How could these stories impact the\nmarket? Read on to get the details\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States has\na Natural Gas Dilemma \u2013 <\/strong>There was a time following World War II when the\nUnited States thought it was going to run out of natural gas. But with the\nfracking revolution came the discovery of vast natural gas reserves, so much\nthat the U.S. has gone from being a net importer of natural gas to a net exporter\n\u2013 with almost too much to spare. In West Texas, drillers have so much excess\nnatural gas that they often have to burn it just to get rid of it, and the\namount they burn each day<\/em> could fuel\nevery home in the state. Earlier this spring, the price of natural gas in\nMidland, TX (a production hub) dropped to negative\n<\/em>$9 per million BTUs \u2013 meaning producers were actually paying customers to\ntake the gas. At the root of the natural gas problem is lack of infrastructure\nto move natural gas around the country. Relying on an old, and often too small,\nset of pipelines leads to delivery issues. There is also stout resistance to\nbuilding new pipelines, which results in the natural gas market often enduring\nwild price swings depending on shifting seasons and demand.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Know where you stand in terms of your long-term investment goals!<\/a><\/strong> ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Near Victory for\nFree Trade \u2013 <\/strong>As the world\u2019s two biggest economies \u2013 the U.S. and China \u2013\nengage in an ongoing trade dispute, the world\u2019s fastest growing continent \u2013\nAfrica \u2013 took steps towards creating a $3.4 trillion free trade bloc. Known as\nthe African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the trade deal spans 55\nAfrican nations and would be the largest free trade area established since the\ncreation of the World Trade Organization back in 1994. The 55 nations have\nagreed in principle to eliminate tariffs on most goods passing through the\narea, which is estimated to increase trade by 15% – 25%. The International\nMonetary Fund describes the free trade zone as a potential \u201ceconomic game changer,\u201d\nbut challenges remain. Of top concern is needed improvements to Africa\u2019s\ninfrastructure to improve transportation of goods and cut down on delivery\ntimes. As it stands today, 54 of the 55 African states have signed on, but only\nabout half have ratified the deal. Talks will continue this weekend in Ghana.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fed Chairman Jerome\nPowell Testifies \u2013 <\/strong>All eyes are on the Federal Reserve this month, as the\nmarket looks forward to the late July meeting where a rate cut is very much on\nthe table. In remarks made to Congress this week, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell\nsaid that the U.S. economic outlook has not improved since his last comments,\nsignaling that the Fed may be poised to cut rates by 25 points at their next\nmeeting. Almost half of the 17 Fed officials who participate in the committee\nfor setting rates have commented that the U.S. economy will likely need a rate\ncut at least by the end of the year. Mr. Powell enjoyed bipartisan support for\nthe job he has done so far running the Fed, even though he has endured much\ncriticism from President Trump.4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fallout for Boeing\nand the 737 MAX \u2013 <\/strong>The fallout from Boeing\u2019s 737 MAX crash on Ethiopian\nAirlines continues. The airplane manufacturer reported that commercial-jetliner\ndeliveries fell by over a third in the first half of 2019 from a year earlier,\nand to make matters worse Boeing has not received a single order for the 737\nMAX in three straight months. During this challenging patch for Boeing, their\nFrench rival Airbus has seen increased production and orders, and is set to\ndeliver a record number of jets in 2019. If Boeing continues to stagnate as\nAirbus grows, it\u2019s possible that the French rival could overtake Boeing as the\nlargest plane maker in the world. The 737 MAX remains grounded.5<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n While we may not know how all these stories will pan out, or\nhow they could affect the market in the long-term, knowing your net worth can\nbe critical to your financial well-being and can help you prepare for what\u2019s\nahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Calculating your net worth may give you a better idea of\nwhere you stand in terms of your long-term investment goals. If you do not\ncurrently know your net worth, then now may be a great time to calculate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to\nunderstand how to measure your net worth, download our guide Measuring Your Net\nWorth.6 <\/sup>Simply click on the\nlink below to get your copy today! Powell hints at rate cut, U.S. has too much natural gas, no one\u2019s buying the 737 MAX<\/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-8112","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\/8112","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=8112"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10737,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8112\/revisions\/10737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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While you cannot predict exactly how these stories will pan out or how they could affect the market, you can try to prepare for what\u2019s to come. And, knowing your net worth is a great place to start as it is critical to your financial well-being and can help you prepare for what\u2019s ahead.
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If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to understand how to measure your net worth, download our guide Measuring Your Net Worth.2<\/sup>\u00a0Simply click on the link below to get your copy today!
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Download Zacks Guide, Measuring Your Net Worth<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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