Number 5: Drivers of The Stock Market The S&P 500 index is a benchmark index for measuring the performance of the U.S. stock market. It is a diversified index that contains the stocks of 500 relatively large companies (large cap) in an array of industries.  Stock prices reflect expectations of future corporate profitability – more […]

Number 4: The Yet to be Paid Increasing Costs of the Federal Deficit and Debt The Federal Deficit The federal budget deficit refers to U.S. federal government spending exceeding government income. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Government spending totaled $4.1 trillion in 2018; government revenues were $3.3 trillion, contributing to a deficit of roughly […]

Number 3: The Timing of Those Tax Cuts Part of what made the recent tax cuts unique is that they occurred in a growing economy with near historic lows in unemployment. Prior to 2018, recent tax cuts occurred when the economy was struggling and unemployment was relatively high. In the current economic recovery, the payroll […]

Number 2: What’s Been Driving Economic Growth A country’s economic growth is measured by the change in real gross domestic product (GDP). GDP measures the value of goods and services by a country over a given timeframe (typically quarterly or annually). GDP includes four components: 1) Consumer spending, 2) Investment spending, 3) Government Expenditures, and […]