Got Five Minutes?
Here’s your five minute recap of last week’s Financial headlines.
The Stock Market has been incredibly moody as of late. What’s causing this diva market to exhibit such behavior? A few things:
- Tensions between the U.S. and China over Trade
- Apple’s Revenue Forecast
- The Government Shutdown
Here’s the deal: The U.S. and China have set their status to “it’s complicated”. The United States wants China not to steal intellectual property, and China doesn’t want to be told how to operate or what to do. Both countries have imposed tariffs (read: an extra tax to be paid on a particular type of item) on one another’s imports and are determined to hold their ground. The result? Both countries have begun to feel the effects of the trade dispute and the stock market is taking notice.
You may also have seen Apple popping up in your newsfeed a few times last week because they reported that their Q1 results might be softer than they originally expected. Why is that noteworthy? Well, because Apple mentioned that retail sales in China are down significantly. Why does this matter? Since China’s government is not always transparent with how their economy is doing, the news that Apple’s sales are down in China was a big deal. The investor community is starting to realize that this whole trade dispute might actually be hurting China (the second biggest economy in the world) after all.
The other thing hurting the stock market last week? …that pesky Government Shutdown. The stock market hates uncertainty and right now, the U.S. Government is all but certain of how it is going to continue to play out. Congress needs to pass several spending bills in order to fully open up shop, but until then, the markets will continue to wait…impatiently.
Something to be pumped about? JOBS!
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (say that five times fast) released their final jobs report of 2018 and the results were much, much better than expected. Economists expected 181,000 job additions but employers added 312,000 jobs. The bottom line? Between steady job growth and record lows for unemployment, the economy is carrying some momentum into the new year.
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