In today\u2019s Steady\nInvestor, we take a look at key factors that we believe are currently impacting\nthe market, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Challenging Road\nAhead for the Jobs Market \u2013 <\/strong>After eight months of consecutive job gains\nfollowing the March lockdowns, the U.S. economy actually shed jobs in December.\nThe data is discouraging, but there could be a positive takeaway \u2013 December job\nlosses did not stem from U.S. employers stepping up their firing, but rather\nfrom slowing their pace of new hiring. Employers\u2019 reluctance to hire may have\nbeen driven by anticipation of a slow winter, particularly given the\nNovember\/December wave of hospitalizations and deaths. During the winter,\noptions like outdoor dining also fade, and economic activity softens as people\nstay home more and go out less. But there\u2019s still good news here: it is easier\nto reverse a trend of slow hiring than accelerating firing. Even still, the\nlabor market is battered from the pandemic, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome\nPowell said last week that published unemployment rates may be understating\ndeterioration in jobs.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let Us Help Guide You Through Your Long-Term Investment Goals!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We all know the pattern – as inflation occurs, uncertainties\nrise. This can be a challenge for almost every investor, especially those who\nare trying to build their retirement portfolio. Through your uncertainty, just\nknow that it\u2019s possible to still achieve your financial goals through these unpredictable\ntimes. However, achieving these goals involves some work: defining your\ninvesting objectives, determining your asset allocation, managing investments\nover time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To help you do this, we are offering readers our free guide\nthat offers a step-by-step blueprint of our customized investing process to\npotentially help you build a sound retirement portfolio of your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have $500,000 or more to invest, get this guide to\nlearn our ideas on building and maintaining a retirement portfolio to potentially\nachieve your long-term goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get our FREE guide: 7 Secrets to Building the Ultimate DIY Retirement Portfolio<\/a>2<\/a><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal Budget\nDeficit Continues to Widen \u2013 <\/strong>The federal budget deficit has been widening\nfor over four years, but spending went into overdrive last year as revenues\n(tax receipts) fell. During the first four months of fiscal 2021, which\nactually began in October 2020, the U.S. budget gap hit $736 billion, which\nmarks an 89% increase from the same period last year. Zooming out to the entire\nfiscal year 2020, the deficit hit $3.47 trillion, which is an astounding 16.2%\nof U.S. GDP.3<\/sup> These figures are front-and-center to the debate over\nmore fiscal stimulus, with the Biden administrations $1.9 trillion package\ncurrently in the works. The United States has not posted deficits this large\nsince the end of World War II, another time of great crisis for the nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brexit Fallout in the\nCapital Markets \u2013 <\/strong>When the Brexit vote took place in 2016 \u2013 hard to believe\nit was that long ago \u2013 many skeptics worried that London would no longer\ncommand its place as Europe\u2019s financial center. Predictions abound that trading\nand capital market hubs would move to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and perhaps Paris.\nOne of those predictions has just come to fruition. Last month, Amsterdam\npassed London as Europe\u2019s dominant center for trading shares, averaging 9.2\nbillion euros of shares traded a day on Euronext Amsterdam and the Dutch arms of\nCBOE Europe and Turquoise. By comparison, shares traded in London in January\naveraged 8.6 billion euros per day, a number that has been progressively\nshrinking as Amsterdam\u2019s tick higher. The shift was driven largely by EU rules\nbanning financial institutions from trading in London, as the terms of Brexit\nremained undetermined.4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oil Rallies, Gas\nPrices May Soon Follow \u2013 <\/strong>Oil prices have been marching higher over the last\nfew months, and have reached levels not hit since before the pandemic crushed\nglobal demand. A couple of forces are at work in the oil markets, in our view.\nFirst, curbs on OPEC production coupled with inventory drawdowns have helped\nreduce the supply glut. Second, demand is returning to the markets as countries\nanticipate an end to the pandemic, with many forecasting a surge in economic\nactivity in the second half of the year. Gas prices tend to track with oil\nprices, and we are already seeing signs of upward pressure on prices at the\npump. Average gas prices nationally climbed to $2.46 in January from $2.12 in\nJune, and we might expect even more upward pressure as the global economic\nrecovery takes hold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Not knowing what the future holds shouldn\u2019t stop you from reaching your financial goals. There are steps you can take to protect your investments and create a retirement portfolio that meets your goals. To help you do this, I recommend reading our guide, 7 Secrets to Building the Ultimate DIY Retirement Portfolio<\/em>.6<\/sup> It provides a step-by-step blueprint of our customized investing process to potentially help you build a sound retirement portfolio of your own and pursue long-term investing success. Brexit fallout for capital markets, winter job market slows, deficit highest since WWII, forecast demand pressures oil prices <\/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-9319","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\/9319","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=9319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10454,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9319\/revisions\/10454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
If you have $500,000 or more to invest, get this guide to learn our ideas on the step-by-step process to building and maintaining a retirement portfolio that will potentially help you reach your goals and enjoy a secure retirement. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"