 |
|
|
|||||
Much like all the upheaval shaking the world, the huge swings rocking Wall Street may feel far from normal. But, for investing at least, all this is typical. Sharp moves for the U.S. stock market, like its recent 6% drop in just a couple of weeks, happen regularly. Stomaching them is the price investors have to pay for the bigger returns that stocks can offer over other investments in the long term. This time doesn’t look much different, experts say. Here’s a glimpse at what’s behind the market’s wild moves and what experts are advising investors young and old to consider: The market is bad, right? It has certainly struggled. The stock market’s main benchmark, the S&P 500, has been dropping since setting an all-time high last month, largely because of worries about President Donald Trump‘s tariffs and signals that the U.S. economy is running less powerfully than economists expected. Any kind of uncertainty around the economy will give Wall Street pause. These tariffs have had a particularly jostling effect because no one knows how long Trump will go through with them. When worries are high, stocks sink sharply. When Wall Street goes back to thinking Trump is using tariffs as just a negotiating tactic, stocks have bounced back, such as on Wednesday. Stocks do this often? Yes. The S&P 500 has regularly seen declines bigger than this recent one, of 10% or more, every year or so. Often, experts view them as a culling of optimism that can otherwise run overboard, driving stock prices too high. Before this recent stumble, many critics were already saying the U.S. stock market was too expensive after prices rose faster than corporate profits. They also pointed to how only a handful of companies was driving so much of the market’s returns. A group of just seven Big Tech companies accounted for more than half of the S&P 500’s total return last year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Should I sell and get out? Anytime an investor sees theyre losing money, it feels bad. This recent run feels particularly unnerving because of how incredibly calm the market had previously been. The S&P 500 is coming off a second straight year where it shot up by more than 20%, the first time that’s happened since baggy pants were last in style before the millennium. Selling may offer some feeling of relief. But it also locks in losses and prevents the chance of making the money back over time. Historically, the S&P 500 has come back from every one of its downturns to eventually make investors whole again. That includes after the Great Depression, the dot-com bust and the 2020 COVID crash. Some recoveries take longer than others, but experts often recommend not putting money into stocks that you can’t afford to lose for several years, up to 10. Data has shown, historically, that no one can time the market, said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of WalletHub. No one can consistently figure out the best time to buy and sell. Put another way: Keep on keeping on, suggests Chris Fasciano, vice president, investment management and research, and chief market strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network. Should I change anything with my investments? Even as the overall U.S. stock market has dropped, some corners outside the Magnificent Seven have done much better, Fasciano said. So have stocks outside the United States. It could all be a reminder that investors often do best when they have a mixed set of investments rather than going all-in on just a few. And investors may no longer be as diversified as they thought after years of sheer dominance by the Magnificent Seven over the U.S. stock market and by Wall Street over global markets. Nows the time to revisit some of the old tried-and-true of portfolio construction, like diversification, Fasciano said. I just started investing in stocks. What should I do? The proliferation of online trading platforms and the ease of smartphones has helped create a new generation of investors who may not be used to such volatility. But the good news is younger investors often have the gift of time. With decades to go until retirement, they can afford to ride the waves and let their stock portfolios hopefully recover before compounding and eventually growing even bigger. We would advise younger investors to not worry about this at all, said Phil Battin, CEO of Ambassador Wealth Management. “Its just background noise. If you have 30 to 50 years until you need the money, the economy has survived world wars, oil embargoes, presidential assassinations, Y2K, and a global pandemic. It will survive the Trump tariffs as well. What about crypto? This is a little trickier. In theory, part of the appeal of crypto is that its supposed to be a hedge investment that isnt correlated with the stock market or the fiat-currency economy, said Sam Taube, lead investing writer for NerdWallet. But in reality, at least recently, crypto has often gone down in price when stocks have gone down, instead of offering that hoped-for protection during Wall Street’s sell-offs. “So, young investors may need to rethink the idea that cryptos value is completely independent of the stock market and broader economy, Taube said. What if I’m near retirement? Older investors have less time than younger ones to allow their investments to bounce back. But even in retirement, some people will need their investments to last 30 years or more, said Niladri Neel Mukherjee, chief investment officer of TIAA Wealth Management. People who have already retired may want to cut back on spending and withdrawals after sharp market downturns, because bigger withdrawals will remove more potential compounding ability in the future. But even retirees, at least in the early part of retirement, should still be invested in stocks to prepare for the possibility of decades of spending ahead. You may want to slow that down and pick that back up once the market recovers, Mukherjee said, but it all comes down to having that conversaion with your adviser and your portfolio manager. How long will this last? No one knows, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Stan Choe and Cora Lewis, AP business writers
Category:
E-Commerce
President Donald Trump on Thursday postponed 25% tariffs on many imports from Mexico and some imports from Canada for a month amid widespread fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war. The White House insists its tariffs are about stopping the smuggling of fentanyl, but the taxes proposed by Trump have caused a gaping wound in the decades-old North American trade partnership, and Canada has felt compelled to quickly take aggressive countermeasures. Trump’s tariff plans have also caused the stock market to sink and alarmed U.S. consumers. In addition to his claims about fentanyl, Trump has insisted that the tariffs could be resolved by fixing the trade deficit and he emphasized while speaking in the Oval Office that he still plans to impose reciprocal tariffs starting on April 2. Most of the tariffs go on April the second, Trump said before signing the orders. And then we have some temporary ones and small ones, relatively small, although its a lot of money having to do with Mexico and Canada. Trump said he was not looking to extend the exemption on the 25% tariff for autos for another month. Imports from Mexico that comply with the 2020 USMCA trade pact would be excluded from the 25% tariffs for a month, according to the orders signed by Trump. Imports from Canada that comply with the trade deal would also avoid the 25% tariffs for a month, while the potash that U.S. farmers import from Canada would be tariffed at 10%, the same rate at which Trump wants to tariff Canadian energy products. Roughly 62% of imports from Canada would likely still face the new tariffs because they’re not USMCA compliant, according to a White House official who insisted on anonymity to preview the orders on a call with reporters. Half of imports from Mexico that are not USCMA compliant would also be taxed under the orders being signed by Trump, the official said. Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum has planned to announce any retaliatory measures on Sunday, but Trump credited her with making progress on illegal immigration and drug smuggling as a reason for again pausing tariffs that were initially supposed to go into full effect in February. I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border. Trumps on-again, off-again tariffs threats have roiled financial markets, lowered consumer confidence, and enveloped many businesses in an uncertain atmosphere that could delay hiring and investment. Major U.S. stock markets briefly bounced off lows after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick previewed the month-long pauses on CNBC on Thursday. Significant declines already seen this week resumed within an hour. The S&P 500 stock index has fallen below where it was before Trump was elected. Sheinbaum said she and Trump had an excellent and respectful call in which we agreed that our work and collaboration have yielded unprecedented results, on a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. Mexico has cracked down on cartels, sent troops to the U.S. border and delivered 29 top cartel bosses long chased by American authorities to the Trump administration in a span of weeks. At a press conference, Sheinbaum elaborated on her call with Trump Thursday, saying that she told the president that Mexico was making great strides in fulfilling his security demands. I told him were getting results, Sheinbaum said. But the U.S. imposed the tariffs, so she asked Trump how are we going to continue cooperating, collaborating with something that hurts the people of Mexico? She added that practically all of the trade between the U.S. and Mexico will be exempt from tariffs until April 2. She said the two countries will continue to work together on migration and security, and to cut back on fentanyl trafficking to the U.S. From January to February, the amount of fentanyl seized at the border dropped more than 41%, according to Sheinbaum, citing data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. She cited the dip as meeting a commitment made to Trump. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, the leader of Canadas most populous province, said that starting Monday the province will charge 25% more for electricity shipped to 1.5 million Americans in response to Trumps tariff plan. Ontario provides electricity to Minnesota, New York and Michigan. This whole thing with President Trump is a mess, Ford said Thursday. This reprieve, weve went down this road before. He still threatens the tariffs on April 2. Fords office said that the tariff would remain in place even if theres a one month reprieve from the Americans. Ford has said that so long as the threat of tariffs continue, Ontarios position will not change. Lutnick said that he will be watching fentanyl overdose deaths in the U.S. as a key metric he will focus on when evaluating Canada and Mexico’s efforts to combat the synthetic opioid. In his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, Trump portrayed tariffs which he has also levied on China at 20% due to their role in fentanyl production as a source of increasing wealth and power for the United States. Yet most economists expect the import duties to send prices higher, slow the economy, and potentially cost jobs. The Yale University Budget Lab has estimated that the tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico would increase inflation by a full percentage point, cut growth by half a percentage point and cost the average household about $1,600 in disposable income. Trump appeared to acknowledge Tuesday night that there could be some pain: Therell be a little disturbance, but were okay with that. It wont be much. Christopher Rugaber and Josh Boak Associated Press writers Rob Gillies, and Megan Janetsky contributed to this report.
Category:
E-Commerce
Efforts to hollow out the federal workforce by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have resulted in a dramatic rise in layoff announcements. The latest monthly data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows that employers in the United States announced more than 172,000 layoffs during February, which was an increase of 245% from January and the highest monthly total since mid-2020, during the pandemic. Further, it was the highest number of layoffs for the month of February since 2009, in the middle of the financial crisis and subsequent Great Recession, when more than 186,000 layoffs were announced. So far, through the first two months of the year, employers have cut a total of 222,000 jobs, an increase of 33% over last year. Which industries have been hardest hit? DOGE’s slashing of the federal governments head count meant a huge increase in government layoffs. In fact, through February, the report notes that 62,530 government jobs have been eliminated, which was an increase of 41,311% year-over-year. Meanwhile, the retail and technology sectors continue to see significant cuts. Further, almost 39,000 jobs were lost in the retail sector, 14,554 in technology, and 13,804 in the services and consumer products sector during February. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||