Paramount Associates Wealth Management

Check out this week's Paramount Wealth Perspectives podcast "What We Expect for 2025" for a detailed, yet brief review from last week, as well as looking at this upcoming week! It's aim is to help educate anyone interested in the current state of global economics and markets. https://lnkd.in/gbnwkdGX

Check out this week's Paramount Wealth Perspectives podcast "Fed Speak Rattles Markets" for a detailed, yet brief review from last week, as well as looking at this upcoming week! It's aim is to help educate anyone interested in the current state of global economics and markets. https://lnkd.in/gbnwkdGX

"Prices barely moved in November but still held higher than the Federal Reserve’s target when looked at from a year ago, according to a Commerce Department measure released Friday. The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, showed an increase of just 0.1% from October. The measure indicated a 2.4% inflation rate on an annual basis, still ahead of the Fed’s 2% goal, but lower than the 2.5% estimate from Dow Jones. The monthly reading also was 0.1 percentage point below the forecast." https://lnkd.in/gzurcNX8

"The Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis Thursday revised real third quarter estimated gross domestic product to 3.1% at an annual rate from the original estimate of 2.8%... The BEA said the real GDP increase primarily reflected consumer spending increases, exports, nonresidential fixed development and federal government spending. Current dollar GDP was up 5% annually. That increase was $358.2 billion, bringing the third quarter current dollar GDP to $29.37 trillion." https://lnkd.in/gtWH29hM

"The Federal Reserve on Wednesday lowered its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point, the third consecutive reduction and one that came with a cautionary tone about additional cuts in coming years.  In a move widely anticipated by markets, the Federal Open Market Committee cut its overnight borrowing rate to a target range of 4.25%-4.5%, back to the level where it was in December 2022 when rates were on the move higher." https://lnkd.in/g3RtiVdD

"November retail sales grew at a faster pace than Wall Street analysts had expected, reflecting continued resilience in the American consumer and indicating that the holiday shopping season in the US is off to a strong start. Retail sales rose 0.7% in November. Economists had expected a 0.6% rise in spending, according to Bloomberg data. Meanwhile, retail sales in October were revised up to a 0.5% increase from a prior reading that showed a 0.4% increase in the month, according to Census Bureau data. A 2.4% month-over-month increase in motor vehicle and auto parts sales, as well as a 1.8% increase in online sales, drove the gains." https://lnkd.in/eqPt-A5p

"The Federal Reserve is expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point on Dec. 18 at the end of its two-day meeting. That would mark the third rate cut in a row — all together shaving a full percentage point off the federal funds rate since September. So far, the central bank has moved slowly as they recalibrate policy after swiftly hiking rates when inflation hit a 40-year high. 'This could be the last cut for a while,' said Jacob Channel, senior economic analyst at LendingTree." https://lnkd.in/ejY98ST5

"Wholesale prices rose more than expected in November, adding to a string of sticky inflation prints. Thursday's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that its producer price index (PPI) — which tracks the price changes companies see — rose 3% from the year prior, up from the 2.4% in October and above the 2.6% increase economists had projected. This marked the highest year-over-year increase since February 2023. On a monthly basis, prices increased 0.4%, compared to the 0.2% seen in October." https://lnkd.in/gvjDyEGN

"Consumer prices rose at a faster annual pace in November, a reminder that inflation remains an issue both for households and policymakers. The consumer price index showed a 12-month inflation rate of 2.7% after increasing 0.3% on the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. The annual rate was 0.1 percentage point higher than October. Excluding food and energy costs, the core CPI was at 3.3% on an annual basis and 0.3% monthly. The 12-month core reading was unchanged from a month ago." https://lnkd.in/gNjMNw-B

"Most adults are making financial decisions with a poor level of financial literacy, according to the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center and TIAA, with Gen Z having the poorest literacy. Those born between the late 1990s and early 2000s were only able to answer 37% of questions about topics like borrowing, investing, and saving. This is staggering considering that one in seven Gen Z credit-card users have already maxed out their cards, and in the U.S. alone, students hold over $2 trillion in student loan debt." https://lnkd.in/gfu-HPsS