{"id":9600,"date":"2021-05-24T14:33:22","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T14:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zackspcg.com\/blog\/?p=9600"},"modified":"2022-02-26T13:05:52","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T13:05:52","slug":"cargo-ships-running-behind-the-impact-of-inflation-retraining-for-post-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/cargo-ships-running-behind-the-impact-of-inflation-retraining-for-post-covid\/","title":{"rendered":"Cargo Ships Running Behind, the Impact of Inflation, Retraining for Post-Covid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In today\u2019s Steady\nInvestor, we dive into current news and key indicators in the market that we\nbelieve investors should consider such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Cargo\nships running behind schedule<\/li><li>Inflation\u2019s\nimpact on the Fed\u2019s actions<\/li><li>Retraining\nthe modern economy<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cargo Ships Keep\nRunning Behind Schedule \u2013 <\/strong>Have you tried to purchase something recently,\nonly to find that it was \u201cout of stock\u201d and\/or that the delivery date was far\ninto the future? You\u2019re not alone. Supply chain issues have hindered the\nsmoothness of the global economic recovery so far this year. One link in the\nsupply chain contributing to these disruptions: cargo ships. In \u2018normal\u2019 years,\ncargo ships arrived on time in ports about 70% of the time. In March of 2021,\nthat number plummeted to 40%. Delays around the world are being driven by a\ncorporate rush to restock items, driving demand through the roof and creating\nlogistical issues. Cargo vessel capacity is being pushed to its limit, and there\nis currently a shortage of sea containers available to move goods around the\nworld. As a result, freight rates are rising, which is pressuring margins at\ncorporations. What\u2019s more, inflation is also building elsewhere in the\nproduction process, with rising prices across raw materials and key components\nlike lumber and semiconductors. The labor market is also struggling to keep up,\nwhich opens the wider debate of whether these inflationary pressures are\ntransitory or could become a long-term issue.<sup>1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>______________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/go.steadyinvestor.com\/download-retirement-strategy-guide?source=zim&amp;medium=blog&amp;term=steadyinvestor_zim_2021_05_24&amp;content=retirement_strategy_guide\">Are You Protecting Your Retirement Assets?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Making sure your\nretirement assets are protected is top of mind for many investors today. Imagine\nworking hard to build up your retirement, just to have the stock market\nsuddenly plunge and wipe out half of your portfolio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is why it\u2019s\nimportant to have an effective strategy in place to account for the market\u2019s\nups and downs. So, how can investors protect their retirement assets against\nlife\u2019s unknowns? Our free guide, <em>How Solid Is Your Retirement Strategy? can <\/em>help\nyou build a retirement strategy that takes the \u201cwhat ifs\u201d into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This guide offers\nour views on some key retirement investment strategies that may help you\npreserve your financial security in retirement, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The\nimportance of flexible portfolio allocation<\/li><li>Why\nkeeping some liquid assets can potentially help you preserve more wealth<\/li><li>Understanding\nyour risk tolerance in case of a market downturn<\/li><li>Plus,\nmore strategies to help you protect your retirement assets <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have $500,000\nor more to invest, get our free guide by clicking on the link below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Get our FREE guide: <a href=\"https:\/\/go.steadyinvestor.com\/download-retirement-strategy-guide?source=zim&amp;medium=blog&amp;term=steadyinvestor_zim_2021_05_24&amp;content=retirement_strategy_guide\">How Solid Is Your Retirement Strategy?<\/a><\/strong><sup>2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>__________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How Much Inflation\nWill Cause the Fed to Act? <\/strong>Equity markets were rattled a bit on Wednesday,\nfollowing the release of minutes from the Fed meeting in late April. Markets\nhave displayed this pattern in the past \u2013 looking for any sign that the Fed is\neven <em>willing <\/em>to tighten monetary\npolicy as a signal to de-risk. Some of the statements from the Fed minutes were\nmixed. Officials made it clear that the U.S. economy remains far from the\nCommittee\u2019s goals, though they also conceded that the risks to the outlook\n\u201cwere no longer as elevated as previous months.\u201d Most of the Fed\u2019s language\nseemed to indicate that inflation was being watched but that the risk was\nbalanced and the inflation outlook was transitory. Even still, some market\nwatchers saw signs that \u2018tapering\u2019 (a form of tightening) would be a topic in\nupcoming meetings, as the Fed starts to make plans for reducing their massive\nbond-buying program. Taper talk tends to instigate volatility in the equity\nmarkets, but recent history also shows it can be short-lived.<sup>3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Retraining in the\nModern Economy \u2013 <\/strong>There have\nbeen many stories recently about imbalances in the labor market, with many\nsmall businesses desperate to hire workers they cannot find. One economic\nsolution to the problem: raise wages. But another angle some retailers are\nembracing is retraining existing staff for new jobs, instead of hiring new\npersonnel. The pandemic changed the nature of many retail and hospitality\nbusinesses, from how consumers make purchases to how goods are ultimately\ndelivered. Technology is usually involved. That means many of the jobs that\nexisted just two years ago look different today and require a different set of\nskills. That\u2019s where retraining comes in. As an example, Levi\u2019s has enrolled a\nsmall set of employees in \u201cmachine learning boot camp,\u201d which teaches employees\ncoding and statistical analysis, even to those with no previous background in\nthe field.<sup>4 <\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to Protect Your Retirement from Market Volatility?<\/strong>\nWhile there is no way to prevent market volatility, there is a way to protect\nyour retirement assets through market ups and downs. We recommend finding a\nretirement strategy that takes the \u201cwhat ifs\u201d into account. Our free guide can\nhelp you to prepare for what\u2019s to come as you plan your ultimate retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have $500,000 or more to invest, get our free guide, <em>How\nSolid Is Your Retirement Strategy.<sup>5<\/sup><\/em> You\u2019ll get valuable and\npractical ideas to help build a \u201cweatherproof\u201d retirement strategy that can\npotentially protect your retirement nest egg from any storm that could threaten\nyour financial security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supply chain disruptions hit global economy, retraining to meet labor shortages, when will Fed act on inflation? <\/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-9600","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\/9600","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=9600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10395,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9600\/revisions\/10395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}