Announcer:
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Brandy Auterson-Hurst:
It’s now time for For Your Money. We’re joined by John Nelson, financial advisor at NelsonCorp Wealth Management. Great to see you, John.
John Nelson:
Thanks for having me, Brandy.
Brandy Auterson-Hurst:
With the Fed continuing to raise interest rates, where are you looking to see how that can impact the economy?
John Nelson:
Yeah. We’ve talked about it the last couple of months that we’ve seen some improvement in the markets and in the risk assets like stocks. I think the Fed is well on their way to continuing to raise interest rates for a good portion of this year, but the pace in which they’re increasing rates has certainly slowed versus last year. The graphic I have with me today, Brandy, is illustrating that. This is the composite PMI index. It’s taking into account manufacturing and service sectors. All we’re trying to illustrate here is that when the line breaks the number 50 there on the right-hand side, that is a sign of an economic slowdown. Now, we saw that in 2008, 2009, of course. We saw it in the first quarter of 2020 when the pandemic hit. We saw it again at the end of last year, but we’re seeing a bit of a recovery there, which is really nice to see.
Brandy Auterson-Hurst:
Okay, so what could this mean for viewers making decisions on their investments?
John Nelson:
Yeah, I think we’re still of the mindset that we’re cautiously optimistic going into the rest of this year. I think those who may have made some sales or sat on some conservative positions last year, this may be an indicator for them to start working back into some of those stock positions if we see the market continue to have the footing that it’s illustrating here. Those who have taken some of the losses that we saw last year, I don’t think this would be any point in time of making dramatic adjustments to their portfolios.
Brandy Auterson-Hurst:
Okay, John. As always, thanks for joining us today.
John Nelson:
Thanks a lot, Brandy.