31 Dec Holiday Economy
The holidays are a great time of the year for everybody, well except for those who have to work on them that is. This year the holidays proved to be more interesting than anything when speaking in concerns of the market and the American economy. With usual numbers changing, and usually high numbers falling there is quite a bit to take note of this holiday season with investments in mind.
One of the most surprising developments this holiday season was that the S&P 500 was down 3% right before Christmas before spiking up on the 21st and the 22nd. Considering the fact that the S&P 500 represents the 500 most widely held stocks in the country, and that its down an entire three percent during the largest consumer spending holiday of the year, 3% seems a whole lot worse than usual. Now we won’t be seeing the true effects of this drop until January when the companies report their earnings. Although if numbers represent what we have seen with this drop in particular, things won’t be looking too pretty.
Another development is the divergence between new home and existing home sales percentages. While existing home sales fell in November, new home sales are up 9.1% from last year’s mark. Many experts are blaming the “Know Before You Owe” act which basically slows down the entire settlement process. While the growth in new home sales has been blamed on a very marginal median price increase of about 0.8% from last year, which reveals that there may be a lot of discounting going on. What this means is that although there may be more transactions, it may be because builders are trying to work off inventory leading to another drop in median price. However all of the presumptions and predictions will be put through the fire during the spring, when the new homes built with the countries warm winter are tested by the slowing economy.
Both of these factors can greatly affect yours, and many others investment options and opportunities. To make sure that you are taking advantage of the coming changes and existing variables in the economy today, contact Ortiz World Wealth your investment advisor representative today. After all the holidays are a time to celebrate what you have, not worry about losing it.
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