The Markets

The market whisperer…

Last week, the Federal Reserve (Fed) left the federal funds rate unchanged, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell soothed markets. He explained that conditions in the labor market were broadly in balance and inflation had eased significantly over the past two years. Overall, the possibility of recession, while rising, remained low.

Markets rallied following his comments.

The economic outlook for 2025
The Fed’s current median forecast for economic growth in 2025 is 1.7 percent, a bit lower than it was in December. In addition, the Fed’s current median estimate for inflation is 2.7 percent, a bit higher than in December. While he was reassuring, Powell explained there is a lot of uncertainty about the economic outlook in the United States. He stated:

“Looking ahead, the new administration is in the process of implementing significant policy changes in four distinct areas: trade, immigration, fiscal policy and regulation. It is the net effect of these policy changes that will matter for the economy and for the path of all monetary policy. While there have been recent developments in some of these areas, especially trade policy, uncertainty around the changes and their effects on the economic outlook is high. As we parse the incoming information, we are focused on separating the signal from the noise as the outlook evolves.”

Consumer spending and the wealth effect
Powell also said that it remains to be seen how consumer and business spending and investment will respond to heightened uncertainty about the economic outlook. It’s an important point because of the “wealth effect”.

The wealth effect is a theory in behavioral economics. It holds that people spend more when the stock market is rising and the value of their assets is growing. Conversely, people spend less when the stock market is falling and the value of their assets is declining. It’s difficult to quantify the effect as Mike Bird of The Economist explained:

“Estimates of the ‘wealth effect’ – the amount that rising or falling stocks can support or hurt consumer activity – vary wildly. One academic study in 2019 suggested that a dollar increase in stock market wealth boosted American spending by about three cents. [A large financial-services firm] suggests that the pass-through has risen significantly in recent years, coming up with an extraordinary figure of 24 cents. Whatever the true number, a declining stock market matters for the broader economy.”

Last week, major U.S. stock indices finished higher,  while yields on most maturities of U.S. Treasuries moved lower.

IF YOU LOSE YOUR WALLET, DO YOU EXPECT IT TO BE RETURNED? Here’s some good news from the 2025 World Happiness Report: “People are too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities.”

 As usual, the 2025 World Happiness Report offered insights to the countries where citizens are happiest. Once again, Nordic nations dominated. The United States landed in 24^th place. The countries where the happiest people live are:

1. Finland,
2. Denmark,
3. Iceland,
4. Sweden, and
5.  

 Where are people most benevolent?
The 2025 report also tracked a trend that surprised researchers during the Covid-19 years. In 2020, there was an upsurge in benevolent acts – people doing kind things for one another. Researchers theorized that helping others may have “…offset the negative effects felt by many of those whose lives were changed, endangered, and sometimes harmed during the pandemic.”

For the 2025 report, researchers asked how often people performed acts of kindness, specifically donating, volunteering, and helping strangers. The most benevolent countries varied, depending on the type of kindness.

• For donations, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Ukraine ranked first, second, and third.
• For volunteering, Indonesia, Liberia, and Kenya took top honors.
• For helping strangers, Jamaica, Liberia, and Trinidad & Tobago were the leaders.

The United States was 12^th for donations, 15^th for volunteering, and 12^th for helping a stranger.

What about lost wallets?
The study also asked participants how likely it was that a lost wallet would be returned. They compared the data to studies where researchers “lose” wallets to see how often they are returned. Overall, expectations that wallets would be returned were far lower than actual returns.

For example, the actual return rate for lost wallets was 1.8 times higher – almost double – the average estimated return rate. In addition, wallets were more likely to be returned if they contained money.

By the way, the best place to lose your wallet is in a Nordic nation. These countries had both the highest expected and the highest actual rate of return for lost wallets.

Weekly Focus – Think About It
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
–Aesop, Storyteller

The Markets

A correction and a bounce.

Last week, the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index moved into correction territory. The Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq) was already in a correction, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow) was close, reported Paul R. LaMonica of Barron’s.

A correction occurs when the value of an index drops 10 percent below its most recent peak. The S&P 500 correction occurred remarkably quickly. Just three weeks ago, the index was at a record high amid easing inflation pressures and solid earnings growth.

In fact, from December 15 through March 6, the number of companies mentioning the word “recession” on earnings calls was the lowest it had been in more than five years, reported John Butters of FactSet. There is another word that was mentioned frequently on earnings calls though: tariffs.

Tariffs on tariffs on tariffs

The tariff war escalated last week as the European Union (EU) and Canada introduced retaliatory tariffs in response to those of the United States, reported Joe Light of Barron’s. Brendan Murray and Alex Newman of Bloomberg have been tracking the tariffs. Through the end of last week, the United States government has imposed the following tariffs:

• 10% on all goods imported from China (February 4)
• An additional 10% on all goods imported from China (March 4)
• 25% on some Canadian imports (March 4)
• 25% on some Mexican imports. (March 4)
• 10% on Canadian energy and potash (March 4)
• 25% on steel and aluminum from major exporting countries (March 12)

“As Americans debate the wisdom of the administration’s on-again, off-again trade barriers…a few broad points are worth bearing in mind,” wrote The Editorial Board at Bloomberg. “One is that these measures are a tax on Americans. Foreign countries don’t simply pay up; US companies do when they import a product. This means that the costs are ultimately borne by consumers and by companies that use imported inputs. The effect of those higher prices is to eat into household budgets, push down real wages and reduce economic growth.”

Consumers are feeling salty

The trade war has raised questions about the path of the U.S. economy, and some economists have lowered their forecasts for economic growth in 2025, reported Brian Swint of Barron’s.

The primary driver of U.S. economic growth is consumer spending and consumers – anyone and everyone who buys things – are feeling less optimistic. Last week, the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers reported that sentiment fell 10.5 percent from February to March. Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu wrote:

“Sentiment has now fallen for three consecutive months and is currently down 22 [percent] from December 2024. While current economic conditions were little changed, expectations for the future deteriorated across multiple facets of the economy, including personal finances, labor markets, inflation, business conditions, and stock markets. Many consumers cited the high level of uncertainty around policy and other economic factors; frequent gyrations in economic policies make it very difficult for consumers to plan for the future.”

Major U.S. stock indices fell over much of last week before recovering some losses on Friday. The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow all finished the week more than two percent lower. U.S. Treasury yields bobbed lower before finishing the week close to where they were the previous Friday.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON YOUR FINANCIALS GOALS. While it is never comfortable to watch the value of savings and investments fall, as they do during a market correction, it’s important to remember that the decisions you make today can have a significant effect on the value of your portfolio over the long-term. During market downturns, investors generally have three choices. They can:

1. Sell and take a loss. The thinking behind selling is usually something like this: If I sell, I will cut my losses and preserve what I have. Investors who do this realize a loss of principal. “A lesson many investors have learned is that if they sit tight and wait for the upturn to come, they won’t realize a loss. In fact, they may even see their portfolios gain more value than they had before the downturn,” wrote Richard Bet of Investopedia.
2. Sit tight. Investors who stay invested recognize that a market decline is not the same as a loss of principal. These investors understand that staying invested through market ups and downs can help them reach their long-term financial goals. The odds of a positive return increase with the amount of time an investor holds a stock or stock portfolio, explained Trevor Jennewine via Nasdaq. Historically, the chance of the S&P 500 Index delivering a positive return were:

• 59 percent over a month period.
• 69 percent over a year.
• 79 percent over five years.
• 88 percent over 10 years.
• 100 percent over 20 years.

3. Look for opportunities. A lot of investors recognize that market downturns create opportunities to purchase shares of attractive companies at lower prices. These investors work with their advisors to identify opportunities that may benefit their portfolios should the market recover. The goal of investing, after all, is to buy low and sell high.

If you’re feeling fearful, remember that corrections are a normal part of investing. The S&P 500 Index has experienced 56 corrections since 1929, reported Saqib Iqbal Ahmed of Reuters. Corrections tend to occur when share prices become overvalued. They wring out the excess and often create opportunities for investors.

Weekly Focus – Think About It
“The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.”
–Brené Brown, Author

Sources:

https://www.barrons.com/articles/s-p-500-correction-what-next-03225182 or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-17-25-Barrons-S&P-in-a-Correction%20-%201.pdf

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/

https://insight.factset.com/earnings-insight-infographic-q4-2024-by-the-numbers

https://insight.factset.com/lowest-number-of-sp-500-companies-citing-recession-on-earnings-calls-in-over-5-years

https://insight.factset.com/highest-number-of-sp-500-companies-citing-tariffs-on-earnings-calls-over-past-10-years

https://www.barrons.com/articles/canada-eu-tariffs-retaliation-60d1890d or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-17-25-Barrons-Canada-and-EU-Retaliate%20-%206.pdf

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-12/trump-tariff-list-here-s-a-running-tally-of-what-s-been-hit-so-far?srnd=homepage-americas or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-17-25-Bloomberg-Running-Tally-Tariff-Threats%20-%207.pdf

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-03-12/trump-s-tariffs-can-anyone-say-what-the-goal-is?srnd=phx-opinion or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-17-25-Bloomberg-Tariffs-are-Terrible-Idea%20-%208.pdf

https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-031025/card/goldman-sachs-jpmorgan-raise-europe-growth-forecasts-while-cutting-those-for-the-u-s–jeU7Q3yD2QHUzBd6ilCI or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-17-25-Barrons-Raise-Europe-Growth-Forecasts%20-%209.pdf

http://www.sca.isr.umich.edu

https://www.barrons.com/market-data?mod=BOL_TOPNAV or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-17-25-Barrons-DJIA-S&P-Nasdaq%20-%20%2011.pdf

https://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/TextView?type=daily_treasury_yield_curve&field_tdr_date_value_month=202503

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/021116/3-reasons-not-sell-after-market-downturn.asp

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/heres-the-average-stock-market-return-in-every-month-of-the-year

https://www.reuters.com/markets/wealth/sp-500-correction-six-charts-2025-03-13

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/162578.Bren_Brown

The Markets

What do weather and investing have in common?  

From 1991 to 2020, the average temperature of the United States was 54.7° Fahrenheit. Of course, that doesn’t mean the temperature in every state on every day was 54.7°F. The weather varied dramatically from place to place and month to month.

The same is true of investment averages. At the end of February, the average annual total return* for the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index over the past 10 years was 12.98 percent. That doesn’t mean the S&P 500 returned 12.98 percent every year – it didn’t. The index’s total return varied dramatically from year to year.

The stock market doesn’t provide level returns. In some years returns are positive, and in other years returns are negative. After two years, of stellar returns from U.S. stocks, the market has been experiencing a pull back.

Last week, U.S. financial markets were volatile. “A roller-coaster week for markets ended on that same note, with stocks whipsawing as traders tried to make sense of a myriad of headlines around the economy, tariffs and geopolitical developments. Just minutes after a slide that drove the S&P 500 down over 1 [percent], the gauge staged an ‘oversold bounce’ as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the economy is fine. The Nasdaq 100 briefly breached the threshold of a correction. Bonds fell,” reported Rita Nazareth of Bloomberg.

In contrast, some European stock markets moved higher last week. “President Donald Trump’s drive to shake up the world order is creating some surprising winners. As the U.S. stock market reels from tariff fears, German stocks are surging because the government has committed to almost $1 trillion in new spending on infrastructure and defense…The sea change in policy is creating a giddy optimism in German markets not seen in decades,” reported Brian Swint of Barron’s.

The divergence in performance brings home the value of a diversified portfolio.

When markets are volatile, remain confident and resist the impulse to react to short-term performance. The assets in your portfolio were carefully chosen to help you reach your financial goals. Unless your goals and risk tolerance have changed, your asset allocation shouldn’t. The weight of evidence accumulated over previous decades supports the idea that staying the course – holding a well-allocated and diversified portfolio and rebalancing periodically – is a sound way to pursue long-term financial goals.

Last week, major U.S. stock indices finished the week lower despite a rebound on Friday. U.S. Treasury yields were mixed last week with yields for shorter maturities dropping while yields on longer maturities rose.

THE SPOTLIGHT WAS ON THE REAL FEDERAL RESERVE OF ATLANTA. You may have seen a headline or two about GDPNow last week. It’s the Atlanta Federal Reserve (Fed)’s unofficial economic growth forecasting model – and it’s been delivering twists and turns worthy of a reality TV show.

GDP, or gross domestic product, is the value of all goods and services produced in the United States. “The percentage that GDP grew (or shrank) from one period to another is an important way for Americans to gauge how their economy is doing. The United States’ GDP is also watched around the world as an economic barometer,” reported the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

At the end of January, the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model estimated the United States economy would expand by 2.9 percent in the first quarter of 2025. Since then, the estimate has moved sharply lower. Last week, GDPNow projected the U.S. economy will shrink in the first quarter, contracting by 2.4 percent.

It’s a remarkable swing that captured a lot of media attention.

How should investors weight this bit of unofficial data? Probably not too heavily because GDPNow can be volatile. “These estimates are published regularly as new economic data is released…There were 11 [releases] in February alone. Friday’s [February 28’s] shock reading of -1.5% was led by a record-high $153 billion trade deficit in January, most likely as firms front-loaded imports ahead of tariffs, and Monday’s decline was driven by soft manufacturing activity. There’s every chance -2.8% turns into a positive reading in a few weeks,” reported Jamie McGeever of Reuters.

Other Federal Reserve Banks also have economic growth forecasts. These models also have been moving lower, but they haven’t shot into negative territory like GDPNow. The New York Nowcast dropped from an estimated 2.94 to an estimated 2.67 percent for the first quarter, and the Dallas Fed’s Weekly Economic Index moved from 2.4 percent to 2.2 percent.

The average absolute error of final GDPNow forecasts is 0.77 percentage points. The final forecast is expected in April.

Weekly Focus – Think About It
“Courage is willingness to take the risk once you know the odds. Optimistic overconfidence means you are taking the risk because you don’t know the odds. It’s a big difference.”
– Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist

The Markets

Is it supposed to be doing that?

At the end of last year, economists believed the chance of a recession in 2025 was relatively low. In December, economist Torsten Sløk wrote, “The outlook for the US economy remains strong with no signs of a major slowdown going into 2025.”

The economy has not been performing as expected, though.

“The U.S. Citi Economic Surprise Index, which tracks the difference between economic data and expectations, has fallen to its lowest level in almost six months. The index rises when the surprises are favorable, so the decline means the data are showing a less robust U.S. economy than expected,” reported Jacob Sonenshine of Barron’s.

One surprising piece of data is the slump in U.S. consumer confidence.

The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey reported that consumers have become less optimistic. Sentiment declined by 9.8 percent from January to February. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index showed a 7.0 percent drop over the same period.

“The decrease was unanimous across groups by age, income, and wealth…Year-ahead inflation expectations jumped up from 3.3 [percent] last month to 4.3 [percent] this month, the highest reading since November 2023 and marking two consecutive months of unusually large increases,” reported Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu.

The slump in sentiment is concerning because consumer spending is the primary driver of U.S. economic growth – accounting for about two-thirds of gross domestic product (GDP), which is the value of all goods and services produced in the country over a certain period. In general, when consumers are uneasy, spending tends to slow and so does economic growth.

Currently, one consumer group has more influence than others do.

When analysts took a closer look at consumer spending, they found a growing wealth gap.  “The wealthiest 10% of American households—those making more than $250,000 a year, roughly—are now responsible for half of all US consumer spending and at least a third of the country’s gross domestic product,” reported Amanda Mull of Bloomberg. “In the 1990s, spending by top-decile earners usually constituted a third or so of annual consumer spending overall. Now, their spending constitutes the largest share of the consumer economy in data going back to 1989.”

Last Friday, we learned that consumer spending declined 0.5 percent month to month, after inflation, in January. It was the biggest monthly decline in almost four years. “US consumers unexpectedly pulled back on spending on goods like cars in January amid extreme winter weather, and a slowdown in services, if sustained, may raise concerns about the resilience of the economy,” reported Augusta Saraiva of Bloomberg.

While we’ve seen a lot of uncertainty and some softer-than-expected economic data, the likelihood of a recession over the next 12 months remains low. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal’s Economic Forecasting Survey put the odds at 22 percent, reported Andy Serwer of Barron’s.

No matter where the economy is headed, investors can manage the risks associated with market volatility through asset allocation and diversification. If you have not reviewed your portfolio recently, this is a good time to make sure your asset allocation is appropriate for your financial goals and risk tolerance. If you would like help, let us know.

Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved higher, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq Composite Indexes moved lower. Treasuries rallied and the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury moved lower over the week.

ARE YOU BUNCHING? The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) introduced a higher standard deduction – $15,000 for single filers and $30,000 for people who are married and filing jointly in 2025. While the higher deduction was beneficial to many taxpayers, those who are near the cutoff for itemizing may employ an approach known as “bunching”, which makes it possible for taxpayers to itemize every other year, reported Adam Nash of Kiplinger’s.

Here’s how it works: taxpayers condense two years of tax-deductible expenses into a single tax year. Then, they itemize taxes for that year. In general, three types of expenses can be bunched. They include:

Charitable gifts. Some people choose to bunch charitable gifts into a single year by donating in January and then again in December. This increases the amount that can be itemized in a single year. There are other approaches that can help maximize charitable contributions into a single year, as well.

Medical expenses. Taxpayers can deduct qualified healthcare costs that are not reimbursed, as long as the amount exceeds 7.5% of their adjusted gross income. So, when you know a big medical expense is ahead, if it is possible plan the procedure for a year when you are itemizing.

Property taxes. If a municipality allows it, homeowners can make the previous year’s property tax payment in January and make the current year’s property tax payment in December. Currently, there is a $10,000 cap on state and local government taxes (SALT), which include property taxes, reported the Tax Foundation.

Some provisions of the TCJA are set to expire at the end of this year, including the cap on SALT. The administration has yet to decide how SALT deductibility will be modified. The options under consideration include:

• Repealing the SALT deduction, which would raise $1 trillion over 10 years.
• Making the $10,000 cap permanent and doubling it for married couples.
• Raising the cap to $15,000 for individuals and $30,000 for married couples.
• Eliminating income and sales tax deductibility while keeping property tax deductibility.
• Eliminating the SALT deduction for businesses.

This information is not intended as tax, legal or accounting advice. It is offered for informational purposes only. Talk with a tax professional and your financial advisor before taking action.

Weekly Focus – Think About It

“Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.”
~ Charles Addams, Cartoonist

Sources:

https://www.apollo.com/content/dam/apolloaem/documents/insights/apollo-global-2025-economic-outlook.pdf

https://www.barrons.com/articles/stocks-tariff-fall-outlook-3a9c1131?mod=hp_LEDE_C_1_B_2 or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-03-25-Barrons-Stock%20Markets%20Fall-2.pdf

http://www.sca.isr.umich.edu or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-03-25-Survey%20of%20Consumers-UoM-3.pdf

https://www.conference-board.org/topics/consumer-confidence

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/the-value-now-consumer-making-sense-of-us-consumer-sentiment-and-spending

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-28/wealthy-americans-fuel-half-of-us-economy-consumer-spending? or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-03-25-Bloomberg-Rich%20People%20Cash%20Cannon-6.pdf

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-28/fed-s-favored-inflation-gauge-rises-at-mild-pace-spending-falls or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-03-25-Bloomberg-US%20Spending%20Drops-7.pdf

https://www.barrons.com/articles/recession-could-be-coming-this-year-97e58b6f or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-03-25-Barrons-Recession%20That%20Never%20Was-8.pdf

https://www.barrons.com/market-data or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/03-03-25-Barrons-DJIA-SP-Nasdaq-9.pdf

https://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/TextView?type=daily_treasury_yield_curve&field_tdr_date_value_month=202502

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-releases-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2025

https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-finance/charity-bunching-tax-strategy-could-save-you-thousands

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p502#:~:text=You%20can%20deduct%20on%20Schedule,if%20you%20are%20self%2Demployed

https://smartasset.com/data-studies/deduction-bunching

https://taxfoundation.org/taxedu/glossary/salt-deduction/

https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025/01/leak-of-gop-reconciliation-menu-causes-a-political-headache-00199150 and https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000194-74a8-d40a-ab9e-7fbc70940000

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/52274.Charles_Addams

The Markets

A difference of opinion.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of investors: individual investors and institutional investors.

Individual investors buy and sell investments to grow their personal wealth. This group of investors often works with financial advisors as they pursue their financial goals. Individual investors tend to invest smaller amounts of money than institutional investors do.

For the last three weeks, sentiment among individual investors has been leaning bearish. Last week, 40.5 percent of investors in the AAII Investor Sentiment Survey were feeling pessimistic about the direction of stocks over the next six months. That was an improvement from the prior week’s reading when 47.3 percent of participants were bearish. Here’s what the survey has found since the week of January 20.

The AAII Investor Sentiment Survey is considered a contrarian indicator, meaning that people look at the survey to identify potential turning points in the market. In some instances, when investors have been pessimistic, the market has moved higher, and vice versa, reported Edward Harrison of Bloomberg.

Institutional investors are very large investors, such as banks, mutual funds, exchange traded funds, college endowments, state pensions, insurance companies, and other organizations that buy and sell investments, usually in very large volumes, to meet the goals of the group for whom they’re investing.

Currently, institutional investors are quite bullish. According to survey results released last week by Bank of America (BofA), many institutional investors are fully invested and holding very little cash. “Global stocks have become the most popular asset class with [institutional] investors, who are showing the biggest willingness to take risk in 15 years,” reported Sagarika Jaisinghani of Bloomberg. “About 89 [percent] of respondents in the BofA survey said US equities were overvalued, the most since at least April 2001. The faith in so-called U.S. exceptionalism — where investors bet mainly on American financial markets — has also faltered as investors rotate into European stocks.”

Last week, major U.S. stock indices moved lower on discouraging economic data and inflation concerns, reported Connor Smith of Barron’s. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury moved lower over the week.

LET’S TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER. Last week, many parts of the United States set new records for low temperatures as an arctic blast swept across the country. Antelope Creek, North Dakota, saw 45 degrees below zero, which made the low in Austin, Texas (29 degrees) seem downright balmy. In many areas, schools closed – not because of snow, but because of the bitter cold. Meanwhile, up in Alaska, the Iditarod dog sled race moved north from Anchorage to Fairbanks due to a lack of snow and too-warm temperatures.

See what you know about historical weather events in the United States by taking this brief quiz:

1. What was the coldest temperature ever recorded in the United States?
   1. 80 degrees below zero in Prospect Creek, Alaska
   2. 70 degrees below zero in Rogers Pass, Montana
   3. 60 degrees below zero in Tower, Minnesota
   4. 45 degrees below zero in Minot, North Dakota
2. In 1974, the U.S. experienced the Super Tornado Outbreak. During the outbreak, two F5 tornadoes struck Tanner, Alabama, in the same 24-hour period. How many tornadoes occurred across the United States during the Outbreak?
   1. 47 across 7 states
   2. 98 across 25 states
   3. 148 across 13 states
   4. 247 across 21 states
3. In the early 1900s, steady rain caused a major river in the U.S. to overflow its banks. The floodwaters spread across 16 million acres in seven states. It “temporarily created a shallow sea over 75 miles wide and forced thousands to be evacuated by boat,” reported Evan Andrews of History.com. What is the name of the river that flooded?
   1. Ohio River
   2. Mississippi River
   3. Colorado River
   4. Platte River
4. In 2011, a massive dust storm encompassed Phoenix, Arizona. The 6,000-foot-high wall of dust stretched more than 100 miles long and traveled 150 miles, reported Gabe Trujillo of Channel 12 News. What are these enormous dust storms called?
   1. Derechos
   2. Lizard stranglers
   3. Haboobs
   4. Drouths

By the end of last week, temperatures were warming up. In some places, temperature swings of 90 degrees or more were anticipated. That’s sure to inspire thoughts of spring blooming!

Weekly Focus – Think About It
“The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.”
 – Harriet Ann Jacobs, Author

Answers: 1) a; 2) c; 3) b; 4) c

Sources:

https://www.aaii.com/sentimentsurvey or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/02-24-25-AAII%20Sentiment%20Survey_1.pdf

https://www.aaii.com/sentimentsurvey/sent_results

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-02-19/are-retail-investors-too-bearish-probably-not?srnd=undefined or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/02-24-25-Investors%20Too%20Bearish_3.pdf

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-18/investors-are-the-most-risk-on-in-15-years-bofa-survey-shows or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/02-24-25-BofA%20Survey%20Shows_4.pdf

https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-022125?mod=hp_LEDE_C_1  or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/02-24-25-Barrons-Stock%20Market%20News_5.pdf

https://www.barrons.com/market-data

https://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/TextView?type=daily_treasury_yield_curve&field_tdr_date_value_month=202502

https://weather.com/forecast/regional/news/2025-02-16-arctic-blast-temperature-record-week-ahead

https://www.accuweather.com/en/winter-weather/iditarod-forced-to-move-again-due-to-lack-of-alaska-snow/1746306

https://weather.com/safety/winter/news/2024-01-12-record-coldest-temperatures-in-united-states#

https://www.weather.gov/dlh/January21_FrigidMorningLowTemperatures#

https://www.waaytv.com/news/alabama/remembering-the-deadly-impact-of-the-1974-tornado-super-outbreak-in-north-alabama/article_e2fae1e8-f116-11ee-9158-2f139a26c420.html#

https://www.history.com/news/worlds-most-catastrophic-floods-in-photos

https://www.12news.com/article/weather/dust-storm-haboob-rolled-through-phoenix-on-july-5-2011/75-f48e08d6-d33f-4992-b40f-c9b6bdc17bd3

https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/winter-warmup-weather-whiplash-us

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g3372/spring-quotes/

The Markets

Why are stock markets wary of tariffs?

In two of the last three weeks, tariff announcements led to late week stock market sell-offs. Stocks quickly recovered lost value, but uncertainty about the administration’s trade policy and the potential impact of that policy on U.S. companies remained. That’s likely to be the case until it becomes clear whether the Trump administration sees tariffs as a negotiating tactic or a means to cover the cost of extending 2017 tax cuts.

If tariffs are a negotiating tactic and unlikely to be implemented, the effect on the U.S. economy, businesses, and stocks may be less significant than if tariffs are put in place. The Tax Foundation evaluated the administration’s proposal for a universal baseline tariff and reported, “the 10 percent tariff would generate $2 trillion of increased revenue, while the 20 percent tariff would generate $3.3 trillion over a decade.”

While increased tax revenue is alluring, the catch is that tariffs are taxes added to the prices of materials and goods purchased by American businesses. Often, the cost is passed on to consumers, reported Anshu Siripurapu and Noah Berman of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). As a result, the trillions of dollars that could be generated would come from American pockets. According to CFR estimates:

“A 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico will raise production costs for U.S. automakers, adding up to $3,000 to the price of some of the roughly sixteen million cars sold in the United States each year. Grocery costs could rise, too, as Mexico is the United States’ biggest source of fresh produce, supplying more than 60 percent of U.S. vegetable imports and nearly half of all fruit and nut imports.”

Higher prices may reduce demand for goods and services, slowing sales and reducing companies’ profits (and earnings). If earnings growth slows, publicly traded companies’ stock prices could be affected. David Kostin, chief U.S. equity strategist at Goldman Sachs Research reported, “…every five-percentage-point increase in the U.S. tariff rate is estimated to reduce [Standard & Poor’s 500 Index] earnings per share by roughly 1-2 [percent].” Goldman’s estimates suggest the 10 percent tariff placed on China in early February could raise the effective U.S. tariff rate by about 4.7 percentage points.

In addition, businesses may be vulnerable to retaliatory tariffs imposed by other nations. For example, “American farmers and ranchers incurred the most widespread damage from this retaliation following the 2018 tariffs. The damage was so great that the [first] Trump administration authorized $61 billion in emergency relief payments to cushion farmers and ranchers from the blow…an amount roughly equivalent to all of the tariff revenue collected from U.S. businesses,” reported Adam S. Hersh and Josh Bivens of The Economic Policy Institute.

Investors appeared to shrug off concerns about tariffs and trade wars last week. Denitsa Tsekova of Bloomberg reported, “This week’s vow for reciprocal tariffs comes not long after [President Trump] delayed threats against Canada and Mexico, signaling to many investors that he won’t take action that enacts lasting damage to Wall Street.”

Last week, higher than expected inflation numbers and weaker than expected retail sales data gave investors pause, but major U.S. stock indices finished the week higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury moved lower over the week.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BUYING A HOUSE? First-time home buyers have a lot to think about. A house is a big investment, so it’s important to do the research and develop some checklists that can help you compare and evaluate the options available to you. One checklist might include key points to observe during home showings. For example, did you know it’s a good idea to begin your home tour in the basement (assuming the house has one)? If you find issues that significantly affect the structure’s integrity, end the tour there.

Here are a few things to consider:

• The inspection. Many people have been told that requiring an inspection may mean they won’t get the house. But waiving an inspection can be costly, especially if the home has significant problems. One option “is to include a home inspection ‘for informational purposes’ in your contract. This means that you won’t hold home sellers responsible for making repairs or fronting the money for them—and could make sellers more likely to accept your offer,” reported Kelsey Ogletree of Realtor.com. If the home has serious issues, you can back away from the sale although your earnest money may be at risk.
• The neighborhood. You can learn a lot about prospective neighborhoods online, but it’s a good idea to spend time there, too. Drive through the community. Take walks through the neighborhood at different times of the day and different days of the week. Chat with people you see. The more information you gather, the more confident you will be about your decision.
• Your actual monthly costs. After buying a home, the amount you owe each month is usually several hundred dollars more than your mortgage expense. That’s because the payment to your lender will include property taxes and homeowner’s insurance costs that are held in escrow and, usually, paid by the lender when due.

When you’re ready to buy a home, leverage your resources—including online research and friends and family members—and gather the information you need to feel confident that you’re making a sound decision.

Weekly Focus – Think About It
“In love of home, the love of country has its rise.”
—Charles Dickens, novelist

Sources:

https://abcnews.go.com/538/americans-trumps-tariffs/story?id=118796434

https://taxfoundation.org/blog/trump-tariffs-revenue-estimates/

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-are-tariffs

https://www.cfr.org/article/what-trumps-trade-war-would-mean-nine-charts

https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/how-tariffs-are-forecast-to-affect-us-stocks

https://www.epi.org/publication/tariffs-everything-you-need-to-know-but-were-afraid-to-ask/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-14/fearless-wall-street-traders-refuse-to-panic-as-trade-war-flares (or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/02-17-25_Bloomberg_Fearless%20Wall%20Street%20Traders%20Refuse%20to%20Panic_7.pdf)

https://www.barrons.com/market-data?mod=BOL_TOPNAV (or go to https://resources.carsongroup.com/hubfs/WMC-Source/2025/02-17-25_Barrons_Data_8.pdf)

https://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/TextView?type=daily_treasury_yield_curve&field_tdr_date_value_month=202502

https://www.groundworks.com/resources/common-basement-problems-to-deal-with-when-owning-a-home/

https://www.realtor.com/advice/buy/should-i-waive-a-home-inspection/

https://www.realtor.com/advice/buy/bad-neighborhood-red-flags-when-buying-a-home/

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-costs-come-with-taking-out-a-mortgage-en-153/

https://www.today.com/life/inspiration/quotes-about-home-rcna81557