Stocks are Hot. Jobs are Hotter. What’s Next?

Afford Anything | Make Smart Money Choices

Paula Pant | Cumulus Podcast Network

Entrepreneurship, Investing, Business

4.7 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2024

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

#486: By every definition of the word, we’re in a bull market. The S&P 500 hit record highs for five consecutive days last week, and remained strong throughout this week. The Dow is above 38,000 for the first time in history. Unemployment has stayed below 4 percent for 24 months, marking the strongest employment in half a century. And consumer sentiment, which reflects more pessimism than the data warrants, is showing signs of improvement. The Fed met this week and decided to hold rates steady, as expected, but there are hints that they’ll start dropping interest rates within a few months. Inflation isn’t yet down to the Fed’s target rate of two percent, but it’s getting closer — with one notable exception. Auto insurance has skyrocketed; across the nation, car insurance is 17 percent higher than last year. Meanwhile, a shake-up in the real estate industry is creating tumult for the National Association of Realtors, which is facing its first serious challenge in 100 years. The outcome could determine how steeply you’ll have to pay when you sell your home. Where do we go from here? What’s next for the economy? We tackle these questions in this First Friday podcast episode. Enjoy! For more information, visit the show notes at https://affordanything.com/episode486 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The stock market is setting record highs.
0:02.8	In fact, it's setting multiple record highs.
0:04.5	Both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones
0:06.9	have hit record highs.
0:08.2	The Dow closed above 38,000 for the first time.
0:11.6	Last week, the S&P 500 set five consecutive days of new
0:17.0	record highs with each day higher than the last. On Monday it closed above 4,900. It's dropped a smidge since then. I'm
0:26.5	recording this on Wednesday night, January 31st and as of Wednesday night
0:31.0	it's down 1.6% off of its all-time high, but it's still above 4,800 and
0:37.0	roaring strong.
0:39.4	So with the stock market in an absolute roar combined with record low unemployment.
0:46.0	Unemployment has been below 4% for 23 consecutive months.
0:51.0	Plus news from the Fed, the Fed had its first meeting of the year, January 30th
0:56.8	and 31st. As we parsed through all of this economic news, what does it mean and how does
1:01.8	it affect you? That's what today's episode is all about.
1:05.2	Welcome to the Afford Anything Podcast. The show that understands you can afford anything but not
1:09.9	everything. Every choice that you make is a trade-off against something else, and that doesn't just
1:14.4	apply to your money. That applies to any limited resource you need to manage, like your time, your focus,
1:19.7	your energy, your attention. Saying yes to something implicitly means that you're turning other things away.
1:26.3	So what matters most and how do you make decisions accordingly?
1:31.6	Answering these two questions is a lifetime practice, and that's what this show is here to facilitate.
1:39.0	My name is Paula Pant, I am the host of the Afford Anything podcast. As of right now, we air a new episode every
	...

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