2 key inflation prints loom ahead of Fed rate cut decision: What to know this week
A key set of inflation prints will serve as the final fodder for investors leading into the Federal Reserve's Dec. 18 interest rate decision.
A key set of inflation prints will serve as the final fodder for investors leading into the Federal Reserve's Dec. 18 interest rate decision.
Construction hiring has slowed down in the last few months as immigration and interest rate uncertainty weigh on the sector.
As mortgage rates trend lower ahead of the new year, Chase Home Lending's head of refinance and home equity, Nina Gidwaney, joins Alexandra Canal on Wealth! to break down what she expects from the housing market in 2025. "We hope that we'll see some relief in 2025. Of course, we can't predict where rates will go. I can tell you that if rates were to fall below 6%, about 4.7 million customers would become in the money for a refinance. And, of course, it would open up the purchase market and help prospective homebuyers get into the market. So we do hope that we'll see some additional rallying in [2025]," Gidwaney says. She explains, "Here's how we're thinking about it. Obviously, with the recent rallying in September and October and the Fed cutting their rate by about 50 basis points, that created some alleviation in the refinance rates and also purchase rates. We saw some good momentum in that period of time." "So, we would expect that as customers continue to get more comfortable with more elevated rates, that they may be willing to get out of the lock-in effect ... if they're sitting on an ultra-low rate, that they may be willing to trade that for a higher rate in order to be able to move and switch into a different home. That will then create more inventory and more opportunities for prospective homebuyers to get into the market." To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.
In two of the last three months of BLS data, we're seeing resistance to a cooling economy in the jobs market.
Investing in a stock with the hopes of it turning into 10 times its value is enticing, and it can lead to investors taking on significant risk for the sake of scoring a huge return. For buy-and-hold investors, there are much safer ways to achieve 10x returns in the markets. A top ETF for investors to consider for the long haul is the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ).
With market dynamics appearing favorable for equities heading into 2025, Schwab Center for Financial Research fixed income strategist Collin Martin joins Seana Smith and Madison Mills on Catalysts to make the case for bonds. Martin says corporate bonds, which play an important role in a balanced portfolio, have "really attractive" yields at the moment. "We think it's important to focus on income and... [yields], where you get some volatility here and there, but from a big-picture standpoint, if you look at investment-grade corporate bonds... you can get average yields of around 5%." Martin also emphasizes current average yields because "if we go back relative to the past 15 years or so, we're still at attractive levels." The strategist adds that fixed income "plays a huge role for investors as they're approaching retirement, specifically, or they're in retirement, and given what we think is a relatively positive economic outlook, we're okay taking a little risk with corporate bonds. And we think they're a nice way to boost some income in your overall portfolios." Watch the video above for more from Martin on his bonds outlook ahead of 2025. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.
AI is expected to continue to be a major focus for the tech sector (XLK) come the new year, but what can investors expect? TECHnalysis Research President and Chief Analyst, Bob O'Donnell says expect a lot of different changes with AI. O'Donnell telling Yahoo Finance's Josh Lipton on Asking for a Trend that "hybrid AI" starts to change the story when we think about who are going to be the important players. As for what investors might want to watch for with AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), O'Donnell says "the important thing to think about with Nvidia is the software story". Nvidia has been a dominant player in the AI arena and O'Donnell explains how software gives the chipmaker a nice growth opportunity. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here. This post was written by Ivana Freitas.
US mortgage rates have ticked lower for the second consecutive week, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slipped from 6.81% to 6.69% as reported by Freddie Mac. Yahoo Finance senior housing reporter Claire Boston joins Brad Smith on Wealth, while also addressing the boost in mortgage applications in the final weeks of 2024. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.
Both Initial and Continuing Jobless Claims are still representative of a healthy labor situation overall.
Bitcoin surpassed $100,000 for the first time in history