The highlight of the past week was the long-awaited Washington deal – the government is funded till Jan. 15 and the debt ceiling has been raised till Feb. 7. The government shutdown took $24 billion out of the U.S. economy, slowing fourth-quarter economic growth by at least 0.6 percentage point to about 2 percent, according to Standard & Poor’s.
What follows is our weekly wrap-up with links to Money and Markets articles over the past week.
On Monday, Larry Edelson unveiled a big prediction, saying he thinks the Dow Jones Industrial Average will skyrocket and hit 31,000 over the next three years.
Because of Washington’s shenanigans, investors seem to have more confidence in emerging economies than in the U.S., Doug Davenport argued.
Bill Hall charted the impact of the Federal Reserve’s policies on stocks and came to the conclusion that investors are completely delusional about this market.
There was a mother lode of corporate earnings: Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Intel and Google topped expectations, while Goldman Sachs reported a big drop in revenue.
The federal budget deal was completed Thursday. On the same day, Mike Burnick wrote about the future of gold, explaining that prices are likely to strengthen.
Following the news from Washington, J.R. Crooks looked ahead and answered the main question many investors might have now – what will happen during the next political standoff in January?
Mike Larson probed the long-term effects of the government shutdown and near-default, saying Washington broke its trust with investors. He gave advice for investors on how to preserve their money.
Best wishes,
The Money and Markets Team
