The second quarter of 2020 will make history as will the first quarter albeit for different reasons. As we all painfully remember the Q1 marked nearly unprecedented volatility in the markets as the world dealt with the unfolding news of Covid-19. The S&P 500 plummeted to its lowest when it fell 33% from its high in less than 5 weeks. Beginning near the end of Q1 and sprinting straight through Q2 the market has come roaring back.
I can understand and appreciate the overwhelming list of tasks that a business owner sometimes has to accomplish. Perhaps on that list there may be the task of setting up a retirement plan for employees. There are three retirement options employers could consider implementing, depending on what they are hoping to accomplish, Payroll Deduction IRA, Simple IRA, or 401(k).
"It is all but certain that we are in a recession. The data is not out yet, but I would be very surprised if we are not in a recession. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. We all know that half the country was shut down for much of the first quarter and even more of the economy has been shut down for the second quarter."
"I’ve had friends call me in recent weeks asking “Why in the world is the stock market up. Did you see the unemployment number?”. In case you are not aware, the number of new jobless claims is released each Thursday at 8:30 am EST. The last four weeks have been truly devastating. So why has the market responded positively or at least not horribly to record-breaking news of the terrible variety?"
"We know that COVID-19 and the ongoing economic shutdowns will have a material impact on the economy and therefore the market has responded negatively to that news. What is unclear is how much the ongoing oil price war has impacted the market."
"From a financial standpoint, the government's response to COVID-19 has been quick and dramatic, to say the least. The federal reserve has slashed interest rates and has committed to “unlimited” asset purchases. Additionally, the bipartisan “C.A.R.E.S. Act” was passed on March 27th which will provide $2.2 trillion in stimulus. The Federal Reserve, State Governments, and the Federal Government seem ready and willing to do whatever it takes to ease the pain of this Pandemic. All of this effort and stimulus combined with the fact that the stock market has proven to be resilient leads us to believe humanity and markets will emerge from this pandemic all the wiser."
"Throughout this market meltdown, we are committed to keeping you updated. That is why for the foreseeable future we will be producing a market commentary weekly. Additionally, we know there are an incredible amount of negative headlines right now so we will be doing our very best to share some positive headlines!"
"It was not even three weeks ago that I wrote and sent our last communication about the “Coronavirus Chaos” correction. That piece was easy to write. This one was not. Not because I am at a loss for words, but because there is too much information that I want to convey. With that being said, I had to narrow this down to a handful of key topics: What you are feeling right now is normal, Bear markets are not especially rare. Why you should not “bail out”, Timelines of previous Bear/Bull Markets."