Peek of the Week, Community Involvement, LifestyleLeif HagenJune 30, 2023Achievement Financial#america, #holida, #4thofjuly, #july, #july4th, #fourthofjuly, #celebrate, #family, #independence, #independenceday, #freedom

Remembering the cost of freedom this Memorial Day

Lifestyle, World Events, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenMay 26, 2023Achievement Financial#MemorialDay, #remember, #freedom, #holidayweekend, #holida, #america

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Peek of the WeekLeif HagenDecember 22, 2022#christmas, #giving, #gifts, #blessed, #poetry, #tradition, #germany, #american, #america, #holidays

Investors feel a shift after third quarter volatility

The third quarter brought some unusual phenomenon when it comes to investing: simultaneous decline of stock and bond markets. Our new Peek of the Week talks about why investors are currently focused on global instability, rising prices and central bank's efforts to tame inflation. With so many concerns happening at once, aggressive central bank tightening has caused investors to reassess their expectations. If you're tempted to sell, think carefully.

The state of the economy is open to interpretation

Today, gauging the state of the American economy is akin to interpreting abstract art. Many economic indicators suggest the economy remains strong despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool it off. Read our Peek of the Week to learn more about rate hikes, sticky inflation, a vibrant labor market, a booming manufacturing sector, optimistic consumers and yet very confused investors. While economic data is open to interpretation, one thing is for sure: many investors are not happy.

The economy's momentum during high inflation

It may not be what investors want to hear but there is indeed a slowdown happening in our economy. We're facing labor market challenges on top of inflation running over 2 percent. Today's Peek of the Week explains how the historically high growth rates of 2021 (that reflected the economy reopening after the pandemic) have shifted to the place where we're at now. Currently, we have high inflation to focus on.

Cooling markets during the heat of summer

Today's Peek of the Week has the latest insight into how the stock markets are cooling down now that the U.S. economy isn't burning as hot as it once was. With that being said, and even after the last two quarters of slowed growth, the United States economy continues to surprise us. Unemployment has fallen quite low, the labor market is on fire, and the main driver for this shift has been women returning to the workplace. With all this "job talk" brings more "recession talk" and today's PEEK of the WEEK shares some second quarter business activity data to follow up on the whole recession idea.

Is a recession coming, or has it already arrived?

A lot of people are worried that a recession is in our future. Some believe it may already be here. Our Peek of the Week pumps the brakes on the whole "recession" idea to evaluate the facts, details and future estimations. Unemployment is low, inflation is high, and both tend to occur in an economy going through some strong growth. So, which is it?! Are we experiencing strong growth or going through the early stages of a recession? It's important to remember that the models used to predict these things can be volatile, resulting in questionable or conflicting data.