The Fate of \u2018Extra\u2019\nUnemployment Benefits (and other stimulus) \u2013 <\/strong>The U.S. government\u2019s decision\nto provide an extra $600-a-week in unemployment benefits led to a jump in real\ndisposable income \u2013 even in the midst of the economic crisis (see chart below).\nThis jump in income arguably boosted spending and dampened the severity of the\neconomic downturn, but the extra benefit expired on July 31. Its fate going\nforward is very much in question. Congress has not mustered the votes to pass\nanother stimulus bill, and at last glance Republicans and Democrats are still\nvery far apart on reaching a deal. President Trump signed an executive order to\nextend the benefit by $300-a-week, but it is unclear how long the benefit can\nlast given the executive branch cannot authorize new spending (Congress\ncontrols spending). Some estimates show the executive branch has roughly $44\nbillion in funds to spend on the unemployment benefit, but analysis shows that\nthe government spent $250 billion to provide the $600-a-week from early April\nto the end of July. Also on the table is additional stimulus spending for\nschools, the U.S. Postal Service, and state and local governments, though time\nwill tell if a deal ultimately gets done.1 <\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Real Disposable\nPersonal Incomes Shot Higher with Federal Stimulus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Download Our Dean\u2019s List of Investment Strategies!<\/a><\/strong> The\nWeakening Outlook for Muni Bonds \u2013 <\/strong>State and local\ngovernments reduced spending by a 5.6% annual rate in Q2, as the economic\nrecession forced municipalities to lay off workers and reduce services. With\nrecessions come falling tax revenues, which sets into motion the need for\nausterity measures so as not to spur significant budget deficits. With state and\nlocal economies still struggling to contain the virus and economic growth only\ntrickling back to life in many places, the cuts are likely to continue.\nAccording to Moody\u2019s, states will need somewhere in the neighborhood of $500\nbillion over the next two years to offset budget holes being created today. For\ncontext, in the last economic stimulus package states and local governments\nreceived $150 billion in aid, but the money was largely limited to\ncoronavirus-related expenses. Most of that money is already spent, and many\nstates are looking straight ahead at a major budget crisis. The Fed has stepped\nin and said it will lower interest rates by 0.5% for cities and states seeking\nshort-term loans, but the U.S. Treasury needs to approve any such measure.5<\/sup>\nFor municipal bond investors, it could make sense to use caution and diligence\nin selecting bonds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Introducing: The \u201cScanalyzer\u201d \u2013 <\/strong>In an Arizona desert south of Phoenix, a 70-foot-tall robot called a \u201cField Scanalyzer\u201d is probing fields of sorghum, lettuce, wheat, and other crops to closely analyze the temperature, shape, color, and angle of each leaf. As the world\u2019s largest agricultural robot, the Scanalyzer is designed to collect reams of data in an effort to identify and refine optimal crops for producing biofuels, while also identifying crops that can thrive in drier and hotter climates as the planet changes. The project is being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and may prove a stepping stone in the transition away from fossil fuels and towards alternative energy sources.6<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no way to know exactly how this pandemic\nwill continue to impact markets and economies around the world, but finding the\nright investment strategy can make a huge difference when managing the highs\nand lows of the market. To help you learn more about strategies that cater to\ndifferent investment objectives, we have created our Dean\u2019s List of Investment\nStrategies.7<\/sup> Congress deadlocked on new stimulus, state and local governments cut spending, \u201cScanalyzer\u201d helps biofuel search <\/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-8792","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\/8792","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=8792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10560,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8792\/revisions\/10560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/image-1-of-1-2-1024x395.png\")
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You can\u2019t predict when Congress will decide upon another stimulus package or when we will have a vaccine for COVID-19. But the right investment strategy can make a huge difference in preparing your long-term investments for success and helping you navigate these challenging and unprecedented times.
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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 of their respective classes by Morningstar<\/strong>\u00a0(as of 6\/30\/20).3<\/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>4<\/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 of their respective classes, according to\nMorningstar (as of 6\/30\/20).8<\/sup> If you have $500,000 or more to\ninvest and want to learn more about these strategies, click on the link below\nto see how they could potentially benefit you.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"