Quote of the Week
"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life. and that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan
4 Things To Know About Inflation
In last week's newsletter, we shared our latest blog post that covered the 4 things you need to know about inflation. To expand on the topic, we made the video below where Steve and Austin dive further into inflation and what it means for your money going forward. Enjoy!
Total Household Net Worth Up 19.6%
According to the Federal Reserve, household net worth at the end of the second quarter was $141.7 trillion, up 4.3% from the first quarter. Seeing that net worth is assets (cash, stocks, real estate) - liabilities (debt), the strong growth can be tied to the strong performance in the stock market, as well as a red hot housing market. Household debt rose 7.9% as well.
Property Developer, Evergrande, Wobbles
The big news in the economy this week centered around the Chinese property developer, Evergrande, and it's ability to make interest payments to bondholders. According to The Wall Street Journal, the most pressing issue at Evergrande is its near-term debt maturities. 42% of Evergrande's $88.5 billion in debt is due within a year. The company has borrowed heavily to pursue an aggressive expansion strategy, and has over $300 billion in total liabilities. We'll continue to monitor the situation with Evergrande in the upcoming days and months, as well as how it affects financial markets as a whole.
Natural Gas Prices Rise
According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. natural-gas futures ended Friday at $5.105 per million British thermal units, which is about double its price six months ago. For comparison, prices haven't climbed so high since 2014, when blizzards froze the Northeast. Supplies have been impacted by a series of weather events, including February's Texas freeze, June and July's heat wave and Hurricane Ida. See the chart below that shows natural-gas futures prices on a weekly basis.
Any opinions are those of Barry McCall, Steve Alverson, and Austin Coley and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. The information contained in this report does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, or developments referred to in this material. There is no assurance any of the trends mentioned will continue or forecasts will occur. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but Raymond James does not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. Any information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendation. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected. This is not a recommendation to purchase or sell the stocks of the companies pictured/mentioned.
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