The U.S. markets had a strong week, with the S&P 500 up more than 2 percent and hitting a four-month high. For now, the markets are more at ease with some of the worries about Brexit and the China trade talks.
Robert Luna, Surevest CEO & Chief Investment Strategist, and Breanne Polonia, Wealth Advisor & Women’s Wealth Transition Specialist, hosted a private event in San Diego to discuss the latest economic and market news.
In the short run, a pullback is likely, but we would view that as an opportunity to put cash to work. The S&P 500 has started out strong in 2019, up 10.45% on the year. The move has been rapid. Normally when you hit technical resistance such as a 200-day moving average, people naturally look for an excuse to take profits.
Robert Luna, CEO and Chief Investment Strategist at Surevest, was flown out to New York to share his insights on the markets and earnings season. So far, this year is off to a great start, with the U.S. markets up mid-to-high single digits. Does the economic data support the current market increase and are valuations in line with what should be expected this year?
The Federal Reserve concluded its first meeting in 2019 and kept its target between 2.25 and 2.5 percent. Over the last year, the Fed and the markets have been battling over the path of interest rate hikes. On one side, the Fed has cited strong economic growth and made its case for three hikes in 2019, but the market had another opinion.
The first month of the year is turning out very different than the last month. We still have 5 trading sessions in the month, but so far it is looking promising for the U.S. markets. The S&P 500 has returned 6.25% as of early trading on Friday morning, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 6.29% and the tech heavy NASDAQ has increased the most at 7.53% for the same time period.
Earnings season is upon us once again, and the US markets have reacted favorably so far. The broader US indexes were up for the week as of Thursday’s market close; led by the NASDAQ Composite with a return of 2.59%, followed by the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 2.07% and 1.92% respectively.
We are into the third week of the new year, so there has understandably been a lot of talk about setting and keeping to those New Year’s resolutions. Each year, many of us strive to achieve a healthier lifestyle, which can present its own challenges since many of us are living our lives on the go. One of the resolutions that I aspire to achieve this year is to feed my family healthier meals. Of course, that is easier said than done, especially when you have picky eaters to feed.
The pessimistic narrative on the Fed and China that drove the market to new lows a couple weeks back has changed to a more optimistic tone. This new tone has created a sharp bounce from the lows we witnessed on December 26th.
If you are like many tax-conscious individuals, you are probably making contributions to a retirement account. For those contributing to an IRA, there is still time to make 2018 contributions to your Traditional, SEP-IRA, or Roth IRA account. The deadline to make these contributions ends on April 15th, 2019 for traditional and Roth IRA’s. However, for those contributing to a SEP-IRA, the contributions are due before the individual files their taxes, which for those who are filing an extension, can be as late as October 15th.
