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Peek of the Week

Posts in Money
Tax breaks, rebates, and a pause in the stock market rally
Tax breaks, rebates, and a pause in the stock market rally

Many investors who sold shares during the first half of the year are buying again. The current debate for investors and investment professional happens to be, "is the stock market in a bear market rally or a new bull market?" Today's Peek of the Week discusses whether or not it's possible to truly distinguish bull markets from bear markets. As the stock market rally paused, fuel was added to this debate.

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Money, Investment, Stock market, World Events, Tax Resources, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#stockmarket, #rebates, #taxes, #taxcredit, #investing, #trade, #electricvehicle, #solar, #solarpanel, #automotiveindustry, #bullmarket, #bearmarket, #investor
The pace of rate hikes and people moving to North America
The pace of rate hikes and people moving to North America

Today's Peek of the Week attempts to answer this question. With everything going on, investors have embraced the idea that the Federal Reserve can be persuaded to slow the pace of rates hikes. Investors saw stocks move higher last week, but the bond market was less optimistic after more Consumer Price Index (CPI) data was released. So what's the chance of a recession happening? According to Vince Golle and Kyungjin Yoo of Bloomberg, the chance of a recession within the next year is just below 50-50.

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Money, Investment, Lifestyle, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#northamerica, #moving, #eviction, #trends, #inflation, #stockmarket, #stocks, #bonds, #investing, #investors, #blog, #money, #summer, #movingtrends
Retail sales are slowing as inflation numbers get released
Retail sales are slowing as inflation numbers get released

What's the difference between volatility and risk? Our Peek of the Week analyzes the recent inflation numbers, current retail sales data, and the risks involved with market volatility. We do our best to explain the difference between risk and volatility. You may have noticed... we are hearing the word "inflation" A LOT and feeling the rising prices to go with it. Mainly, it's a consequence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the supply chain bottlenecks with no end in sight at the moment.

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Lifestyle, Peek of the Week, Money, NewsLeif HagenAchievement Financial#inflation, #shopping, #consumers, #consumerpriceindex, #CPI, #family, #earning, #lfestyle, #stockmarket, #challenge, #reports
The Fed is focused on calming inflation
The Fed is focused on calming inflation

According to today's blog, "rising inflation is a bit like a child throwing a temper tantrum in the grocery store." Would you agree? And, what will it take to calm this wild child down?

Our Peek of the Week explains how the Fed is laser focused on calming our country's conditions of inflation and volatility. Fed Chair Jerome Powell was quoted saying, "We have both the tools we need and the resolve that it will take to restore price stability on behalf of American families and business."

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Money, Lifestyle, World Events, Stock market, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#rates, #federalreserve, #money, #blog, #stockmarket, #bonds, #bearmarket, #manufacturing
Predicting an upcoming recession is like flipping a coin
Predicting an upcoming recession is like flipping a coin

The stock market has been dropping, but it's important to know the stock market isn't very accurate when it comes to predicting recessions. And it sure seems like that's the word being thrown around these days: recession. The fact is, bear markets in stocks lead to recessions only about 53 percent of the time. In other words, the stock market has about the same predictive value for recessions as a simple coin toss. Let that sink in!

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Investment, Money, News, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#recession, #cost, #costofliving, #pandemic, #stockmarket, #marketnews, #USmarkets, #shopping, #shortages, #data, #thefed, #federalreserve, #centralbanks, #banks, #bondmarket, #bonds, #stocks, #recovery
High consumer pessimism leads to higher consumer spending... WHAT???!
High consumer pessimism leads to higher consumer spending... WHAT???!

Consumers are feeling more pessimistic than they have in a decade. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey shows that sentiment has been sliding lower all year. Today's Peek of the Week explains how during a time when consumer pessimism feels at an all-time high, consumers could actually be more optimistic than the reports are indicating.

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Lifestyle, Money, News, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#spending, #consumers, #inflation, #money, #costofliving, #wages, #gains, #losses, #optimism, #pessimism, #outlook, #markets, #stockmarket
The Fed plays catch up with 'anti-inflation' campaign
The Fed plays catch up with 'anti-inflation' campaign

Today's Peek of the Week tells us how the Federal Reserve has stepped up their "anti-inflation campaign" in the last week, with the goal to slow inflation. Inflation has been high and is getting further exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and by China's virus lockdowns. So far, the American economy has avoided a recession but it has not avoided ongoing inflation.

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Money, Lifestyle, Stock market, Peek of the Week, World EventsLeif HagenAchievement Financial#inflation, #campaign, #marketwatch, #stockmarket, #stocks, #bonds, #wealth, #advisor, #Ukraine, #war, #interestrates, #earnings, #unemployment
Policymakers wonder where inflation is headed
Policymakers wonder where inflation is headed

Today's Peek of the Week explains the complexity of inflation and how the numbers may vary, depending on how things get measured. To determine how quickly prices will rise or fall is not easy and our government relies on two indexes to get their answers: the CPI (Consumer Price Index) and the PCE (the Personal Consumption Index). These signify headline inflation and core inflation. Read our "Peek of the Week" to learn how to differentiate between them and learn why the cost of two things we use daily, food and energy, can be excluded from inflation calculations. One thing we know for sure: policymakers have A LOT of data to consider before they make their predictions for the future.

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Investment, Lifestyle, Money, News, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#inflation, #groceries, #inflating, #policy, #prices
The cost of war filters through the markets
The cost of war filters through the markets

The first quarter of 2022 experienced a storm of volatility with events like nonstop rising inflation, the war in Ukraine, rising interest rates, sanctions on Russia and a new COVID-19 outbreak in China... just to name a few. Today's Peek of the Week offers a review of the first quarter with some options for investors when it comes to fighting inflation, borrowing money and gauging future business operations. Energy prices have surged around the world, causing a jump in global inflation when it comes to transportation and shipping. These costs will be reflected in many other goods, including food.

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Money, Lifestyle, Investment, World EventsLeif HagenAchievement Financial#war, #wartime, #ukraine, #russia, #invasion, #cost, #supply, #demand, #china, #coronavirus, #lockdown, #markets, #stockmarket, #stocks, #bonds, #rates, #federalreserve, #borrowingrate, #inflation, #brainfreeze, #weather, #summer, #firstquarter, #exports, #imports
Checking in... on the Fed and the gender wage gap
Checking in... on the Fed and the gender wage gap

Today's Peek of the Week "checks in" on the Federal Reserve and many other things. The Federal Reserve has been asked by Congress to promote price stability and maximize employment. Inflation continued to increase to 6.4 percent last week (with food and energy included) and the Fed's target rate for inflation is all the way down at 2 percent. Yikes. Today's blog will explain some potential next moves for balancing out financial complications.

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Money, Lifestyle, Investment, Insurance, World EventsLeif HagenAchievement Financial#inflation, #thefed, #federalreserve, #wagegap, #gender, #genderwagegap, #price, #prices, #stability, #money, #unemployment, #jobs, #jobreport, #jobmarket, #stocks, #bonds, #stockmarket, #focus
Rates are rising for consumers and investors
Rates are rising for consumers and investors

Be careful what you ask for…you just might get it! Today's Peek of the Week explains the recent increase in Treasury rates, the drop in demand for home loans and how the cost of carrying credit card debt has increased. It was early March when almost two-thirds of Americans said the Federal Reserve should be more aggressive when it comes to inflation. Well, Americans got what they asked for! When rates rise, borrowing money becomes more expensive, demand gets reduced and prices go even higher.

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Money, Lifestyle, Investment, World Events, Stock market, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#rates, #investor, #investors, #stocks, #stockmarket, #bonds, #housingmarket, #credit, #creditcard
Market corrections... and the great college debate!
Market corrections... and the great college debate!

Today's Peek of the Week is full of questions. Investors wonder what will happen with the current geopolitical tensions, if the Federal Reserve will tame inflation and how the market correction is being received. Major U.S. stock indices moved lower last week and came even closer to correction territory. A stock market correction occurs when assets, indexes or markets decline by 10 to 20 percent and although they feel unpleasant, they aren't unusual. In addition, here have been all kinds of debates about college and its importance. Questions such as: is college a good investment? Which college majors are worth the cost? And, should employers remove college degree requirements from job listings? What do YOU think?

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Money, Lifestyle, Investment, Stock market, Peek of the Week, World EventsLeif HagenAchievement Financial#education, #school, #college, #investing, #investor, #marketnews, #marketcommentary, #marketreport, #employer, #employers, #risk, #benefit, #benefits, #gold, #prices, #stockmarket, #federalreserve