The recent January jobs number showed a huge surprise to the upside. Wall Street had expected to see approximately 185,000 new non-farm payroll jobs – but the number came in at 335,000, beating that estimate by 150,000, or a whopping 81%. A hiring expansion of that size is sure to have ripple effects in the economy. Questions will be raised – are these new full-time jobs? Are these single workers holding multiple part-time jobs? Will wages keep up with inflation? But some questions will slide un
Back in 1992, political wonk James Carville told Bill Clinton, “It’s the economy, stupid,” and went on to steer his candidate toward a game-changing political win. A recent note from Goldman Sachs equity strategist, David Kostin, reminds us of this – and points out that this holds the key to understanding the bullish sentiment on stocks. Simply put, investors are betting that the economy will show gains this year, and are playing stocks accordingly. Even though bond yields – which usually show a
Information technology, IT, has become a vital part of the modern business world. Since the 1990s, IT has grown in leaps and bounds – it’s no longer just about clambering under the desks to plug in an ethernet cable and has become huge business. According to Statista, revenue in the IT Services sector is expected to reach $1.364 trillion in 2024. Big business, however, isn’t always right for every business. Doing IT right takes time and effort that could be spent on a company’s core pursuits. He
An increasing pressure, from both social and political directions, has combined to boost clean and renewable energy providers, including residential scale solar installation providers. Residential solar offers several benefits to the customer, including grid-independent home power and an ability to sell electricity back to the utility provider. Yet, the residential solar business has faced strong headwinds in the last year or more, due to high interest rates increasing the cost of financing the
Savvy investors know that some valuable stock sectors just don’t get the attention they deserve, and finding those underappreciated sectors is a vital skill for successful investing. Big Tech, for example, may have a reputation for taking up all the oxygen in the room, but it’s hardly the only game in town. Agribusiness is one of the underappreciated sectors. The companies that work the land, produce the fertilizers, and deliver the farm equipment that support the world’s food supply bring with