Economic & Market Update

Markets ended 2024 up on the year across all major asset classes; 2025 looks setup for solid economic growth that may not live up to growth expectations.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Stock indices are high and returns across all major asset classes are positive this year. Market volatility spikes when the incumbent party loses the White House, but who is the incumbent? Forward returns are not looking overly optimistic; check your risk and take your gains if your goals have changed. Markets just keep…

This Chartr bubble chart, titled “McDonald’s Still America’s No.1 Fast Food,” maps the top 50 U.S. fast food chains from The QSR 50 2024. The x-axis is total U.S. stores, the y-axis is average revenue per restaurant unit, and bubble size is total sales. McDonald’s is the large highlighted bubble, mid-pack on revenue per unit.…

If You Haven’t Seen It Yet, You’re Going to Want To: Rocket Caught by “Chopsticks” On October 13, 2024, SpaceX made aerospace history by capturing its Super Heavy booster mid-air with the launch tower’s “chopsticks” arms. This breakthrough reusability maneuver demonstrates a new era in cost-efficient, sustainable space exploration. Haven’t seen it yet? Check out…

Decoding the election economy When politicians hit the campaign trail, their first talking point tends to be the economy. Yet, despite the talking points you’re likely to hear, the U.S. economy doesn’t fluctuate dramatically based on who’s in the Oval Office. Here’s what the data has to say about how the U.S. economy has performed…

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Does it matter to the economy who the President is? Maybe, but not much. A narrow market recovery continues to be driven by the Magnificent 7 stocks. The labor market has eased but remains strong. A key to growing forward will be continuing to attract non-native low-to-high skill workers. Scamming is getting more…

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Inflation is not cooperating with the Federal Reserve target of 2% annualized Core CPE and is unlikely to get there in an orderly fashion. Prioritizing credit management and duration risk in an uncertain interest rate environment. Consumers remain strong spenders, according to Visa, and consumer sentiment is at an inflection point according to…

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As we reflect on 2023, initial fears of a tumultuous year were unfounded. Instead, we saw an economy that not only held its ground but also demonstrated remarkable growth amidst moderating inflation rates. However, a slight uptick in inflation towards the end of the year suggests we should remain vigilant. This recent development…

This Chartr line chart is titled “Starting Up: Yelp Tracked A Record Number Of New Businesses In ’23.” It plots cumulative monthly new business openings on Yelp for 2019 through 2023. Every year climbs through December, but 2023 (highlighted in orange) runs clearly above the earlier years for almost the entire calendar. 2022 is next,…