{"id":8480,"date":"2020-02-10T16:39:08","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T16:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zackspcg.com\/blog\/?p=8480"},"modified":"2022-02-26T13:06:46","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T13:06:46","slug":"coronavirus-impact-phase-1-of-us-china-deal-effects-of-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/coronavirus-impact-phase-1-of-us-china-deal-effects-of-brexit\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus Impact, Phase 1 of US-China Deal, Effects of Brexit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What economic developments, key factors and\nquestions should you consider when looking at your investments? In today\u2019s\nSteady Investor, we take a look into some of this week\u2019s top stories such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Phase 1 of the US-China Trade Agreement<\/li><li>The coronavirus spreads with 20,000 reported cases<\/li><li>PMIs point to modest growth ahead<\/li><li>How will the official Brexit affect the UK\u2019s\neconomy?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cPhase 1\u201d of US \u2013 China Trade\nAgreement Taking Form \u2013 <\/strong>China\nhas agreed to cut tariffs by 50% on approximately $75 billion of US imports,\nwhile also increasing purchases of US goods by up to $200 billion. It remains\nto be seen if China is able to fulfill its promises of boosted purchases, but\nan early sign of compliance came when China agreed to cut tariffs effective\nFebruary 14. This news comes as trade figures were released this week showing\nthat the US trade deficit with China shrunk for the first time since 2014.<sup>1<\/sup>\nWhile shrinking deficits are a distinct goal of trade negotiations, we would\ncaution against seeing this as good news. The trade deficit shrunk because\nimports fell faster than exports, meaning that total trade declined \u2013 a sign of\nweaker global demand, in our view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>_____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/go.steadyinvestor.com\/retirement-uncertainties-guide?source=website&amp;medium=blog&amp;term=steadyinvestor_zim_2020_2_08&amp;content=retirement_uncertainies_guide\">How Can You Prepare Your Investments for Retirement Uncertainties?<\/a><\/strong><br> \u00a0<br> There are so many unknowns that come with planning your retirement \u2013\u00a0<strong>what if the market crashes or a medical emergency arises?<\/strong>\u00a0No one can predict if these what-ifs will materialize\u2014but there are simple steps you can take NOW to help ensure your secure and comfortable retirement.<br> \u00a0<br> Get our practical advice that is based on decades of experience and can potentially guard your retirement assets against the \u201cwhat ifs\u201d in life, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>How to counteract the effects of rising inflation<\/li><li>Ideas to allocate your assets to defend against a\n     correction or crash<\/li><li>Strategies to deal with financial emergencies without\n     liquidating investments<\/li><li>Tax planning ideas to help avoid unpleasant surprises<\/li><li>Plus more ways to help protect yourself and your family\n     against retirement unknowns<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have $500,000 or more to invest,\u00a0<strong>download our\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/go.steadyinvestor.com\/retirement-uncertainties-guide?source=website&amp;medium=blog&amp;term=steadyinvestor_zim_2020_2_08&amp;content=retirement_uncertainies_guid\">Retirement Uncertainties\u2026and How to Breeze Through<\/a>.<\/em><sup>2<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>_____________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Coronavirus Spread Continues \u2013 <\/strong>The coronavirus outbreak has now\neclipsed 20,000 reported cases and over 500 deaths, and all signs point to the\ncrisis getting worse before it gets better. The economic impact for China and\nthe global economy will not be zero, in our view. Millions of people in China\nare on lockdown and major corporations have all but shut down operations\nthroughout the country. More recent announcements include Airbus shutting a\nfactory that is responsible for nearly 10% of plane production; the Yum\nCorporation (owner of KFC, Pizza Hut, and other popular fast food chains) has\nclosed over 30% of its restaurants; Starbuck\u2019s, Apple, and Levi\u2019s have closed\nthousands of retail stores; many airlines have significantly reduced or\neliminated flights to China.<sup>3<\/sup> All told, China may very well see over\n2% trimmed from Q1 GDP, and the US could feel the effects to the tune of 0.5%,\nin our view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PMIs Point to Modest\nGrowth Ahead \u2013 <\/strong>US purchasing managers are painting an optimistic view of\nthe US economy looking out over the next couple of quarters. Purchasing\nmanagers are those responsible for ordering supplies, maintaining inventories, and\nmanaging supply chains across the US services and manufacturing sectors.\nFeedback from January\u2019s reporting show that these purchasing managers are\nseeing solid activity and expecting modest but nicely positive economic growth.\nFactory activity in January saw its first positive reading in six months while\nservices activity posted its strongest performance since August.<sup>4<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brexit Becomes\nOfficial \u2013 <\/strong>After years and years of bitter infighting and political\nindecision in Britain, Brexit has finally taken place. Britain formally\nwithdrew from the European Union last Friday, setting the course for political and\neconomic independence for Britain. Whether or not the move benefits Britain\neconomically over the long term remains to be seen, but in the short-term\nconsensus is that the UK may feel a slight bit of pain, as new trade deals are\nhashed out and as businesses consider their future in the UK versus Europe.\nLondon and Brussels (EU headquarters) have until the end of the year to hammer\nout the terms of the official exit.<sup>5<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just as we\ncannot predict exactly how these stories will pan out, we also cannot predict\nlife\u2019s uncertainties when it comes to retirement planning. No matter how\ncarefully you prepare for retirement, life\u2019s unknowns can throw your plans off\ntrack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>The effects of inflation could diminish the real value\n     of your nest egg<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>A stock market correction or crash may cause your net\n     worth to plummet<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Changes in your personal situation\u2014such as a health\n     emergency\u2014could have an enormous impact on your nest egg<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>But you can take steps to\nprepare yourself and help protect your secure and comfortable retirement.<br>\n&nbsp;<br>\nIf you have $500,000 or more to invest, get our free guide,&nbsp;<strong>Retirement\nUncertainties\u2026and How to Breeze Through Them.<sup>6<\/sup><\/strong>&nbsp;It provides\nadvice, based on our decades of experience, that we believe can help ensure\nthat your golden years will be comfortable and secure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US purchasers optimistic, coronavirus shutting down China, US-China trade deal taking form <\/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":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-steady-investors-week"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8480","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=8480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10640,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8480\/revisions\/10640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}