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Peek of the Week

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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
Investor clarity improves as we spring forward
Investor clarity improves as we spring forward

Last week, the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) met and decided to raise the federal funds target rate by a quarter point. Most people were expecting this to happen, and Jerome Powell expects the Fed will continue to raise rates in 2022 in hopes of lowering inflation. Today's Peek of the Week has insight about the yield curve, future rate hikes and implications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Investors felt reassured after last week's improved clarity. Major U.S. stock indices rallied and accomplished some gains.

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Peek of the Week, Stock market, World EventsLeif HagenAchievement Financial#spring, #springequinox, #blog, #investing, #investors, #stocks, #bonds, #stockmarket, #positive, #clarity, #peekoftheweek
Preparing for luck on St. Patrick's Day
Preparing for luck on St. Patrick's Day

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day! Saint Patrick once said that "luck is when an opportunity comes along and you've prepared for it." But it should be noted that the man we know as "Saint Patrick" was actually named Maewyn Succat. It might also be a surprise to find out that he wasn't Irish at all! Read our special St. Patrick's Day Commentary to learn about the legend of Saint Patrick and a few fun facts that you could share with family or friends over a green beer!

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Lifestyle, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#luckoftheirish, #luck, #irish, #celebrate, #holiday, #stpatricksday, #stpatrick, #ireland, #opportunity\
Adapting to war and a changing reality
Adapting to war and a changing reality

U.S. stocks finished the week lower. This comes as no surprise as our world is currently being forced to quickly adapt to a fast-changing reality. The war in Ukraine has intensified and financial markets are grappling with all this uncertainty. Today's Peek of the Week discusses the recent wartime sanctions and how economists are now expected to revise their predictions for global growth and inflation. Economists anticipate the rising commodity prices (on things like oil and gas) are likely to push inflation higher than it might have been otherwise, causing a slowdown for the global economy.

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News, Peek of the Week, Stock market, World EventsLeif HagenAchievement Financial#ukraine, #russia, #war, #stockmarket, #worldnews, #growth, #inflation, #sanctions, #economy, #China
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
As tensions escalate, nature cures
As tensions escalate, nature cures

Why did the U.S. stock markets finish the week lower? There are few factors that come into play. We're still facing the issue of inflation and after the inflation report was released, investors recalibrated their expectations to include a federal rate increase. Today's Peek of the Week explores three other factors that could be contributing to stocks finishing lower: the U.S. Treasury yield curve percentage, escalating geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, plus declining consumer sentiments. The reality is that there is no single answer that contributes to a stock market decrease and tremendous uncertainty lies ahead. Also, how nature holds the power to CURE us…

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Lifestyle, Stock market, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#nature, #cure, #natural, #tension, #war, #russia, #blog, #PEEKoftheWeek, #performance, #stocks, #bonds, #stockmarket, #inflation, #money, #moneymarkets, #getoutside, #explore, #relax, #health, #happiness
Love and Economics on Valentine's Weekend
Love and Economics on Valentine's Weekend

Romantics love Valentine’s Day, and so do some practitioners of the dismal science, which is just another name for economics. You might think economists are all about the $27 billion Americans spent on the holiday last year, but that’s just part of the story... Read our special Valentine's Day Commentary to learn about viewing love as a unique form of currency in these times that require resilience and patience.

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Lifestyle, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#love, #appreciation, #thankyou, #valentine, #valentinesday, #valentines, #economics
Economic expansion brings space exploration
Economic expansion brings space exploration

January presented us with a month of stock market decline but last Friday's gain "snapped a three-day streak of losses and left the S&P 500 up 0.8 percent for the week." Today's #PeekoftheWeek lists some possible reasons why the first weekly gain of the year took a few weeks to occur and how economic expansion is leading us to more space exploration. Take our "space economy" quiz to find out how much you know!

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Money, Lifestyle, World Events, Stock market, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#stocks, #technology, #stockmarket, #markets, #resilience, #corporations, #earnings, #fourthquarter, #buythedip, #decline, #USstocks, #bonds, #space, #spaceexploration, #economy
The 'January Barometer' prediction and global innovation
The 'January Barometer' prediction and global innovation

If you aren't familiar with the 'January Barometer', today's Peek of the Week describes it like this: as goes January, so goes the year. . . As we know, people do not make perfect financial decisions and the predictive values associated with the January Barometer aren't perfect, either. So what's going on? Last week we saw U.S. stock indices move lower because of inflation, the pandemic and Federal Reserve policy. One thing is very clear: the global economy stays resilient, requiring new and innovative adaptations around the world.

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World Events, Stock market, Peek of the Week, Money, NewsLeif HagenAchievement Financial#january, #thejanuarybarometer, #stocks, #stockmarket, #financialplanning, #finances, #investing, #investor, #globaleconomy, #growth, #competition, #innovation, #innovative
Is the economy doing well, or not?
Is the economy doing well, or not?

Is the economy doing well, or not? The answer doesn't come easy these days. Today we posted a brand new Peek of the Week that attempts to answer this question. Last week, the focus was on retail sales for the month of December 2021 being down 1.9 percent compared to November 2021. There are more factors and timeframes to consider than the month-to-month data, and Barron's reported the "the slowdown is expected to be short-lived."

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Money, Peek of the Week, NewsLeif HagenAchievement Financial#economy, #retail, #retailsales, #sales, #future, #virtual, #computers
Adjusting outlooks after economic developments
Adjusting outlooks after economic developments

The Fed's minutes from their December meeting were released last week and investors found themselves surprised by "the change in tone" for future outlooks. Our Peek of the Week tells the story of the Federal Reserve and how 2020 forced our country to make adjustments to avoid a deep recession or depression, and how we continue to pivot going forward.

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Money, Stock market, Peek of the WeekLeif HagenAchievement Financial#unemployment, #jobs, #americans, #economy, #economicrecovery, #stimulus, #inflation, #thefed, #federalreserve, #employer, #supplyanddemand, #supply, #demand, #wages, #minimumwage, #wagewar, #data, #workers, #financialplanning, #advisor, #mn