In this week\u2019s Steady Investor, we look at key\nstories and the questions surrounding their market impact such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Third Quarter U.S.\nGDP Falls Below +2% \u2013 <\/strong>In the \u201cadvance\u201d estimate for U.S. third quarter GDP,\nthe Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) found that the U.S. economy expanded at a\n+1.9% annual rate. This marks a slight decline from the 2% GDP growth notched\nin Q2, but perhaps more importantly relays the signal that the U.S. economy may\nbe back to \u201cmuddle-through\u201d growth. According to the BEA, the uptick in GDP\ngrowth reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures\n(PCE), federal government spending, residential fixed investment, state and\nlocal government spending, and exports. The main \u2013 and arguably most important\n\u2013 detractor from GDP was business investment. U.S. economic growth going\nforward is likely to be a tug-of-war between the U.S. consumer and virtually\neverything else. Business investment, manufacturing, credit, and other leading\nindicators have been trending weaker for some time now, as uncertainty over the\ntrade war and the longevity of the economic cycle wears on corporate America.1<\/sup>\nOrders for durable goods fell in September in the U.S., and business activity\nacross the world from Europe to Japan were flat and negative, respectively.2<\/sup>\nMeanwhile, China posted sub-7% GDP growth in Q3, its lowest rate of expansion\nsince 1990.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Download Our Dean\u2019s List of Investment Strategies!<\/a><\/strong> ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Federal Reserve\nCuts Interest Rates, Signals Pause \u2013 <\/strong>As expected, the Federal Reserve cut\ninterest rates for the third time in 2019, but in doing so made clear to the\nmarket that it would hold off on further cuts unless the economy decelerated\nsharply from here. The Fed sees the U.S. economy expanding modestly and\nbelieves that a healthy consumer \u2013 fueled by a strong labor market \u2013 should be\nenough to continue growth moving along for the balance of the year and into\nnext. The fed funds rate now sits at a range between 1.5% and 1.75%, and the\nFed reiterated that it would step in for further stimulus if warranted. In our\nview, this rate cut is unlikely to help reaccelerate cyclical growth, but may\noffer additional support to equities as investors search for yield. The\ncommittee voted 8-2 to lower interest rates, with the two dissenters preferring\nto keep rates steady.6<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Brexit Stakes Just Got Higher \u2013 <\/strong>The effort to pass a Brexit deal through Parliament by October 31 failed, and the European Union extended the deadline to January 31. But there was a victory secured in the brutal process, and it went to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The Prime Minister was able to secure a general election set for December 12, the consequences of which will be immense for Britain. Should Prime Minister Boris Johnson emerge victorious, he will earn five years in office and surely have the mandate needed to pass Brexit through Parliament. If Johnson loses, he will be the shortest-serving prime minister since 1827.7 <\/sup>The opposition arguably faces an uphill battle, as Labour and Liberal Democrats both have support of \u2018Remain\u2019 voters but risk splitting the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Biggest Names in Tech Double Down on Lobbying Efforts \u2013 <\/strong>Big tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook had their heyday of lax regulation for the better part of the entire economic expansion. But those days may be nearing an end. As the biggest names in tech come under the triple-threat scrutiny of the Federal Trade Commission, the Justice Department and state attorneys, they are responding by upping the ante on lobbying dollars spent in Washington. Lobbying expenditures by Facebook, Amazon, and Apple are set to hit records in 2019, with Amazon\u2019s $12.4 million making it the top spender.8<\/sup> Amazon and Facebook are now the top corporate lobbyists in the United States, outstripping even defense contractors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no way to know exactly where the market\nis headed or how these stories will pan out, but finding the right investment\nstrategy can make a huge difference when managing the highs and lows of the\nmarket. To help you learn more about strategies that cater to different\ninvestment objectives, we have created our Dean\u2019s List of Investment\nStrategies.9<\/sup> Tech lobby outspends defense, new Brexit deadline January 31, U.S. growth continues to weaken<\/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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318","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=8318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10686,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318\/revisions\/10686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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You can\u2019t predict how these events will affect the economy or when the next downturn will occur. But the right investment strategy can make a huge difference in preparing your long-term investments for success.
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To help you learn more about strategies that cater to different investment objectives, we have created our Dean\u2019s List of Investment Strategies.\u00a0Our Dean\u2019s List describes five of our investment strategies that are ranked in the top 7% of their respective classes according to Morningstar<\/strong>\u00a0(as of 9\/30\/19).4<\/sup>
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If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to learn about five of our top strategies, click on the link below.
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Learn More About Our Top-Ranked Strategies!<\/a>5<\/a><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nOur Dean\u2019s List describes five of our investment\nstrategies that are ranked in the top 7% of their respective classes according\nto Morningstar (as of 9\/30\/19).10<\/sup> If you have $500,000 or more\nto invest and want to learn more about these strategies, click on the link\nbelow to see how they could potentially benefit you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"