Blog categorized as Weekly Blog

In the first month of 2019, pharmaceutical companies have increased prices on more than 250 prescription drugs despite calls from the president and Congress to reduce drug costs.1 These hikes have evoked the ire of President Trump, who has pledged to reduce drug prices in the United States, which ar...

In the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), among gains for the United States is a new provision negotiated with Mexico related to auto products.

Under the new terms, to qualify for tariff-free sales, 75 percent of automobile m...

Space: The final frontier. Or is it? The U.S. is again taking a serious look at space exploration, but there are many factors to consider. President Trump last summer called for the Department of Defense to move space operations to a sixth military branch, though funding such an effort would require...

In late September, the Federal Reserve raised its key short-term interest rate to 2.25 percent from 2.0 percent, in its third increase of the year.1

The good news is that higher rates offer the potential for higher returns on CDs, bank savings and other fixed-rated accounts that have been languishing...

Newton’s laws of motion and gravity are often applied to economics and the stock market. What goes up, must come down. While this generally explains a natural path of the economic cycle, the key question for most investors is: When will it come down?

While no one can predict market directions with ex...

Given a choice, which would you choose: a guaranteed fixed income for the rest of your life, or a lump sum that you could invest? As it turns out, lots of people prefer a sure thing.

This is what a recent survey showed about public sector employees posed with the option to select a defined benefit pe...

2018 marks the 10th anniversary of the Great Recession of 2008. Despite a painfully slow recovery, U.S. economic growth has been sustainable. The stock and bond markets continue to perform well, unemployment is low and the economy is generally considered healthy and booming.

And yet, whenever things ...

What a difference a decade makes. After the real estate debacle of the Great Recession, home prices are now near record highs in many markets with mortgage default and foreclosure rates at near record lows, according to the National Association of Realtors, or NAR.1

However, Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief...

In particular, automobiles seem to be in the crosshairs of President Trump’s hard line on trade with the rest of the world. Here are a few reasons why:1

• ​U.S. auto production represents about 2.7 percent of GDP.
• There are more jobs in motor-vehicle assembly than in computers and electronics, chemicals...

The National Bureau of Economic Research recently explored how continued low returns can influence saving, investing and retirement behaviors. According to the report, diminished returns tend to motivate people to save more in non-retirement accounts and less in their 401(k)s, alter their investment...