DID YOU KNOW?
DID YOU KNOW? Hiring in the USA jumped in November to its highest level since January as employers shrugged off global trade conflicts and added 266,000 jobs. The unemployment rate declined to 3.5% from 3.6% in October, matching a half-century low. And wages rose a solid 3.1% in November compared with a year earlier. The average compensation for CEOs of the 350 largest U.S. firms was $14 million in 2018, up 9.9% from $12.7 million in 2017 and up 29.4% since the recovery began in 2009. The median household wage is up from $57,010 in 2009 to $63,179 in 2018, a 10.8% increase. (abc)
DID YOU KNOW? While we survived the year of RECESSION OBSESSION without a recession, it appears we came rather close to a recession in 2019, hence the Fed's actions to prevent one: Jerome Powell engineered an about-face in U.S. interest-rate policy in 2019, steering a group of reluctant colleagues at the Federal Reserve toward rate cuts to ensure a cooling U.S. economy didn’t slip into recession. Rate cuts are a primary tool to fend of recessions or recover from one. (WSJ)
DID YOU KNOW? Here is a brief summary of Goldman Sach's 2020 market predictions:
* Global growth will increase from 3.1% in 2019 to 3.4% in 2020.
* A 2020 recession is unlikely. Corrections are more likely.
* Most advanced economies will see improving labor markets.
* Wage growth and trade tariffs will nudge inflation higher, but it is unlikely to change the Fed's policies.
* Chronic uncertainty surrounds Brexit and trade: these will subside in 2020 and be replaced by election risk.
* Equities appear mostly fully valued.
* Default risk in 2020 is relatively limited as debt-to-earnings and -assets remain stable.
* Average volatility should remain relatively stable, though uncertainty from trade, tweets, and US elections may lead to episodic flare-ups. (Goldman Sachs)
