Hello March! As we turn the chapter on February and transition into March, there are plenty of exciting events to keep on our radar, from the arrival of spring, to St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, college basketball tournaments and baseball’s opening day. There’s no shortage of fun events to look forward to in the coming weeks! And speaking of major events, there are plenty of big events in the financial markets that are on our radar as well as we head into next week including the February employment report, Fed Chairman Powell’s semi-annual testimony to Congress and the President’s State of the Union speech. Here are our thoughts on these key events and the ‘state’ of the economy and markets.

The economy continues to hum along (Atlanta Fed 1Q24 GDP estimate: +3.0%), albeit shifting down a notch from the pace seen in the final quarters of last year. Consumption has remained remarkably resilient thanks to persistently low unemployment and solid income growth. However, some cracks are starting to appear (e.g., soft retail sales report, rising delinquency rates, particularly on credit cards, and falling savings). And with employment growth continuing to prop up the consumer, the health of the jobs market holds the key to where economic growth heads in 2024. No doubt January’s hotter than expected employment report (+353k) and stronger inflation print (core CPI: +0.4% MoM) showed the economy was on firmer footing than policymakers expected heading into the new year.

While we keep an eye on the markets and other economic news, take a minute or two to check out a couple of articles that we included below.

Social Security Changes

https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/social-security/social-security-changes-in-new-year

Update on Real Estate Demand/Market

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/06/weekly-mortgage-demand-surges-11percent-as-more-homes-hit-the-spring-market.html

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about already

https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-finance/biggest-frauds-to-watch-out-for

Fed Chair Powell and His Current Position On Rate Cuts

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/06/powell-reinforces-position-that-the-fed-is-not-ready-to-start-cutting-interest-rates.html

Estate Planning Advice

https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/estate-plan-basic-components

Who knew these were Healthy for you?

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/fermented-foods-are-good-for-you-heres-7-to-try-from-kimchi-to-kombucha-212739262.html?.tsrc=fp_deeplink

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