- Large corporations are increasingly using layoffs as a standard operating practice that can be used even when there is no recession. An astounding 58% of the Fortune 100 companies announced layoffs last year and another 5% announced job cuts in the first month of 2024. 1
- A recent survey found that 46% of American adults and 58% of people earning more than $150,000 per year would pass on debt to their loved ones if they died today. Of those who said their loved ones would inherit their debts if they died, 21% had no life insurance. 2
- This January the stock market rose 1.6%. Since WWII, when the S&P 500 has risen by at least 1.5% in January, its median yearly performance has been a 13.4% gain, with positive returns 82.5% of the time. *2
- Used car prices have fallen 21% from their all-time high in December 2021, and data shows that the value of a used Tesla has dropped 49% from a high of $67,900 in July 2022 to $34,883. 2
- Bloomberg Opinion - "Layoffs Are Now an Ingrained Part of the Economy"
- MFS - "Beyond the News"
*Past performance is not indicative of future performance
Economic Calendar
Monday:
Fed Gov. Michelle Bowman speaks, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari speaks, Monthly U.S. federal budget (Jan)
Tuesday:
Consumer price index (Jan), Core CPI (Jan), CPI year over year, Core CPI year over year
Wednesday:
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee speaks, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr speaks
Thursday:
Initial jobless claims (Feb), Empire State manufacturing survey (Feb), Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey (Feb), Import price index (Jan), Import price index minus fuel (Jan), U.S. retail sales (Jan), Retail sales minus autos (Jan), Industrial production (Jan), Capacity utilization (Jan), Home builder confidence index (Feb), Fed Gov. Christopher Waller speaks, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks
Friday:
Housing starts (Jan), Building permits (Jan), Producer price index (Jan), Core PPI (Jan), PPI year over year, Core PPI year over year, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr speaks, Consumer sentiment (prelim) (Feb), San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly speaks
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