Fed’s 2024 Agenda: Rate Cuts and Economic Resilience Explored

Callie Cox 0:00
I feel like Wall Street sometimes falls into this trap of talking about portfolios and they ignore the fact that we’re all humans here. And recessions are terrible things for society and the economy even though they are a bit of the natural rhythm of history. So I’m feeling especially good right now that, you know, we’re more than a year and a half into rate cuts, and we’re still not seeing weakness in the economy.

Jimmy Connor 0:22
Hi, welcome to Wealthion. I’m James Connor. And today my guest is Callie Cox, US Investment Analyst and investment firm eToro. And eToro is a brokerage firm with over 30 million users worldwide. Callie and her team have been very bullish on the US market since September, we’re going to find out why. And we’re also going to discuss her thoughts and the recent announcement from the Fed and where they see the market going in 2024. Hi, Kelly, thank you very much for joining us today. How are things in Charlotte?

Callie Cox 0:55
Hey, everything’s great down here. Markets are up. We’re almost at the holidays. I’m feeling pretty good.

Jimmy Connor 1:01
Callie, the Fed has increased interest rates 11 times since the first hike in March of 2022. I can’t believe it’s been that long. But here we are in December of 2023. And the Fed just announced last week that it’s holding tight. What are your takeaways from this week’s decision from the Fed?

Callie Cox 1:20
Well, the Fed announced that they were holding tight. They haven’t hiked rates since July. But more importantly, Powell gave some strong indications in his post announcement press conference that we could see rate cuts on the way and the Fed never promises anything fed. Powell didn’t step out and say, Alright, guys prepare for rate cuts they’re coming. But the language that he used about the balance of risks between inflation and the job market. And you know, what we saw in the Feds dot plot, from Fed members, projections of rates strongly hinted at the fact that rates can move lower. And by extension, you know, the inflation crisis might be mostly behind us.

Jimmy Connor 1:59
Okay, you just mentioned dotplot. And I have to laugh every time I hear this, because I think it’s some sort of rudimentary system that the Fed uses to determine monetary policy. What exactly is the dot plot? Wow.

Callie Cox 2:11
So the dot plot makes me laugh too, because it just has such a, it has such a big connotation in markets. And the reason why is because it’s this transparent tool that the Fed has, the Fed updates it twice, or once every two meetings. And it’s a dot plot a literally a chart of dots, where you can see what Fed members, you know, every single fed member, I believe that they’re, you know, 15 to 17 of them, where they think the Fed rate is going. So the Fed uses it, as you know, a tool of transparency. Powell likes to say, you know, this is, this is a compilation of what all Fed members are thinking. So don’t take it as gospel. But it’s a plot. And it shows the median expectation of where rates are going over the next few years. So investors see it, they see, you know, the median dot for 2024, which shows that we could see two to three rate cuts next year. And you know, this time around, they got really excited. But the dotplot has an interesting history, it’s a new tool, you know, markets rely on it way too much. It’s often wrong. And so Powell, in his press conference was pretty quick to say, you know, this isn’t a promise, you know, this is just an expectation and things can change. One of

Jimmy Connor 3:35
the things I find somewhat perplexing about the Fed announcement this week, was the fact that they do want to cut according to the dot plot, but yeah, we have a very strong economy growing around 5% annualized. The jobless number that just came out recently was around 3.7%. Once again, very strong. So how do you reconcile that we got this very strong economy, but at the same time, they want to cut interest rates.

Callie Cox 4:00
Yeah, so this was a big theme in our 2024 Outlook, you know, we call markets in the economy, a Rorschach test, you know, you look at the same inkblot as everybody else, but you see radically different things. So I agree with you there are a lot of there are a lot of weird dynamics that you have to reconcile with your right GDP, the third quarter grew at a 5% annualized rate, yet, and employment is still low. That’s a great economy by most standards. But at the same time the Fed is looking forward, they see that there’s a lot of pressure on the economy, because rates are near 5%. And as inflation comes down, that rate policy becomes even more restrictive. So the Fed sees a strong economy, but an economy that could fall apart quickly in an economy that is digesting a lot of pressure at the moment. So that’s the argument for rate cuts. And certainly if we see inflation pick up again, you know, the Fed wouldn’t skip a beat and you know, hiking rates are keeping rates steady, but overall The Fed wants to project to markets that it’s flexible, you know, we’ve seen inflation come down. That’s what the Fed set out to fix in early 2022. And since we’re close to achieving that target, no matter where growth is, the Fed is willing to be a little more flexible with policy going into 2024. And that’s a great story for investors.

Jimmy Connor 5:21
So the strongest element of an economy in the US economy specifically is consumer spending and represents around 70% of the economy. And of course, interest rates are high interest rates can impact that severely. And it will be curious or interesting to see why q4 spending habits are like when they come out and later in q1. But what are your thoughts on on consumer spending right now? Is that a concern at all, because see anything, or any reason why we should be concerned, consumer

Callie Cox 5:52
spending has been so resilient. This whole cycle, Jimmy, it’s been one of the biggest surprises for I think economists on Wall Street, and even Jay Powell said, it was one of the things that surprised him in, you know, over the past year and a half. And so far, there aren’t any signs that consumers are slowing down. Retail Sales came in this week, for November, and they were still quite strong. The unemployment rate, like you mentioned, is still historically low, we’re still seeing decent hiring, which differs on a sector to sector level, you know, in tech and finance, for example, rate sensitive sectors, things have been a little bit rougher. But on the on the whole, American households seem to be doing very well. And that’s translated into higher consumer spending. The tough thing, of course, is that everybody’s experience is different. So we’ve seen surveys that show that Americans aren’t happy with the economy, they see the dissonance around them, but at the same time, they feel comfortable with their own financial situations. So I wouldn’t say everything is, you know, great, and gravy, and we’re moving into a another year of strong spending. There’s still a lot of risks there. But at the same time, you really don’t see much weakness in the data.

Jimmy Connor 7:06
So there’s ongoing debate on whether or not the US is going to go into a recession. What do you think?

Callie Cox 7:13
Wow, good question. I think a recession is still risk for sure. As we move further and further into this high rate cycle, and we don’t see the consumer breaking down, that makes me more optimistic that we could avoid a recession. And I want to be clear, I, as an American, and as a human, definitely want us to avoid a recession. I feel like Wall Street sometimes falls into this trap of talking about portfolios, and they ignore the fact that we’re all humans here. And recessions are terrible things for society and the economy, even though they are a bit of the natural rhythm of history. So I’m feeling especially good right now that, you know, we’re more than a year and a half into rate cuts. And we’re still not seeing weakness in the economy that makes me feel good as a human and as a Wall Street analyst. So, you know, moving into 2024, there’s still a lot of pressure on the economy, I certainly hope we can avoid a recession. But it wouldn’t shock me if we saw growth slowed down, of course, from that 5% annualized rate. Or if we saw unemployment pick up a little bit. That is, you know, a scenario everybody wants to avoid. And we’re hopeful that the Fed can avoid it. But it also seems like the natural next step, when you know, interest rates are still quite high.

Jimmy Connor 8:31
Here’s the Fed, or has the US economy ever experienced the soft landing?

Callie Cox 8:36
Oh, that’s such a good question. On when you look through the data, you get a myriad of answers around this, because every rate hike cycle is different. And the Fed is focused on inflation and unemployment. But there are so many levers that pull against those two big foundations of the economy. Some people look to 1995 or so where the Fed had to hike rates a little bit, and didn’t push the economy into recession and ended up cutting, as you know, the example of a soft landing the example of what, you know, perfect fed, fed lending could look like. But at the same time, the catalysts were quite different around that there was some weakening and emerging in emerging markets. We found ourselves, you know, in the middle of a cycle versus, you know, toward the late to latter end of the economic cycle, like we probably are here. And we weren’t, you’re picking up the pieces from a pandemic. That’s a big thing that most people forget. We just went through a global pandemic and the world shut down for a month to two months, and then we flip the lever back on and the economy started up again. I mean, that’s a big change. So yes, the Fed has stuck soft landings before. You can see that in the data over time and I think it’s hard to argue against At. But it’s also hard to compare what we’re dealing with now to anything in history because the conditions are just so extreme. So

Jimmy Connor 10:08
one of the things that will really help this economy is a low oil price and oil has been very volatile this year hit a price of 95 bucks not too many months ago, and just this week, it broke below $70. It did rebound quite quickly. But what are your thoughts on oil? And is this falling oil price indicative of a weakening economy, oils a supply story.

Callie Cox 10:33
Of course, oil prices, like most markets move on supply and demand. But right now, supply is basically dictating where oil prices go. That could change going into next year. Of course, if the economy weakens, people are going to travel less, you know, they’re going to order fewer things off of Amazon or so. And that means that you know, fewer trucks have to hit the robot boxes. So oil is one of those classic indicators of the economy. But right now, and supply is extremely tight. And you have a change of, you know, exporters and importers in the oil market. You could you see weird changes in oil prices, like we saw earlier this year, oil rising up to 90 or so, one thing that I’ll add, though, is that gas is, you know, a big budget of many Americans. So the fact that oil prices are moving lower, could be a boon to consumer spending in itself. And I think of it as another lever on the economy. Of course, you know, the Fed has pushed the rate level lever really far. But oh, boy, oil prices are kind of the poster child for inflation and how costs are weighing on the American Wallet. So, you know, as oil prices come down, that could be its own form of easing, and it could keep the economy propped up, which, in turn, could keep oil prices stable in a way. So oil is a funny one. I feel like we sometimes when people talk about oil prices, you can’t when, you know, if oil prices go up, then it’s signaling that costs are running out of control. And that, you know, consumers could get crushed by higher gas prices. But when oil falls, it’s a sign of a weakening economy. You know, I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as that, especially now.

Jimmy Connor 12:16
Interesting points. And with this change in expectations of interest rates, the US dollar has fallen. And on the back of that gold has caught a bit of a bit here. What’s your view on gold?

Callie Cox 12:28
Gold has been one of the bigger surprises for me this year. I think it surprised everybody when it had, you know, strangely rough year, last year, you know, when inflation concerns were at the forefront, because everybody thinks of gold is the classic inflation hedge. Moving into 2023, though, you know, people started worrying about a recession, inflation came down, yet gold took off. I think that’s indicative of the, you know, cautious and quickly changing environment we’re in, people look around them, they see the dissonances in the economy, they see. They see really high home prices. They see banks imploding, like we saw back in March. And they just simply feel uncomfortable, and usually gold is the uncomfortable hedge as well. So you know, gold prices have moved substantially higher this year, they broke the 2000 mark, which my technical analyst Brett Cadwell tells me it was very important. I’m not a technician, I’ll be quite honest with you. But I do believe technicals play a part in markets. So gold breaking the 2000 level, I think is quite important there and moving into 2024 I don’t see many of those catalysts changing recession, worries are still the forefront. You know, we still are recovering from strange pandemic conditions. There’s still a lot of dissonance in the economy. So go could have another good a year over the next 12 months.

Jimmy Connor 13:55
And we can’t talk about gold without talking about digital gold or Bitcoin instead a massive year it’s up 150% on the year give or take. What’s your views on Bitcoin in this current environment?

Callie Cox 14:08
Yeah, so eToro is one of the bigger providers of crypto in the US. So we’re crypto natives, we get really excited about it. You know, I’m a realist, too. I’m an analyst I have to be. So I look at the crypto space and it’s evident of a young and maturing industry that goes through its ups and downs. So of course, we’ve had a few more downs and UPS recently, but Bitcoin has been one of the strange strong performers in the space this year. And I see it as the middle of a Venn diagram between traditional investors and crypto investors. So interest rates are high capital, capital and funding is quite scarce. For a young industry, that means that you see a lot of change under foot you see, a lot of smaller speculative projects die out you see weaker hands get washed out. But ultimately, the foundation gets stronger over time. So I think that’s what we’re seeing in crypto. And I think that’s one of the reasons why Bitcoin has been on a tear this year. Going back to the Venn diagram, you have traditional investors who see crypto as a risky asset, which is a very fair view, it’s one I agree with. And they’re feeling better as we head into the end of the year, because we could have rate cuts ahead of us. But at the same time, in the crypto space, you have crypto investors seeing Bitcoin as this blue chip of sorts, the store of value. So they’ve been moving into Bitcoin, out of all coins out of smaller speculative protocols, because, you know, things just don’t feel great rates are high, and we’re still seeing a lot of volatility in the space. So Bitcoin seems to have been the beneficiary of both, which is incredibly interesting to me, it’s like straddling the line between what feels safe and crypto and what feels risky for everybody else. And I’d expect that to continue into 2024. It’s hard to know, Krypto is such a volatile industry. And I certainly think that the tenets of crypto, the primary tenets are still in place. But when it comes to prices, you really have to watch technicals and sentiment, especially, I mean, even so in Bitcoin and Aetherium, two of the bigger and more well known coins in this space.

Jimmy Connor 16:13
And it’s very interesting to see this divergence between gold and also Bitcoin, because they’re both used for the same sort of investment thesis.

Callie Cox 16:23
Yeah, and that’s a great point, too. I mean, talking about the dissonance around us, I think that there’s been a profound loss of trust in the system. Because the system hasn’t worked for a good swath of Americans. We see that in the conversations around the economy and inflation getting better, but prices still remaining high and wages, having trouble picking, catching up to prices. And I’m not sure we go back up from that I’m not sure that genie goes back in the bottle. So I think, you know, as we move into 2024, that distrust in the system is still there, which could power gold, which could power Bitcoin and other crypto protocols that people see as a store of value. And it’s an interesting undercurrent, as you know, the space grows and matures into the, you know, upcoming years.

Jimmy Connor 17:08
So let’s talk about the stock market. Now. The s&p is up over 20% on the Year, Best November and over 100 years, the NASDAQ, I think it’s up somewhere around 40 to 50% on the year, but the Russell is only up 12% on the year. And I just want to get your views on why this discrepancy between the small caps and the large caps. Yeah,

Callie Cox 17:30
it’s been a horrible year for small caps when you compare them to the rest of the market. And I think it goes back to interest rates mean small caps are smaller companies in the US are more reliant on debt. They’re more sensitive to rate moves. And they’re more exposed to the US economy, which has been a good thing this year, of course, the economy’s been resilient. But investors have seen the writing on the wall. And they’ve rotated out of small caps, because there’s been a lot of worry about a recession. So small caps have been hit by the double whammy of higher interest rates and recession worries, hasn’t, there hasn’t really been a good investment case for small caps this year, if you step back and look at it. And you know, by extension, large caps have done especially well, because of the same reasons. I mean, interest rates are quite high that makes you look at quality. There’s been a lot of talk about The Magnificent Seven. And for good reason. I mean, big tech is some of the strongest companies on the stock market. And they’re the companies that will probably survive a recession, or at least investors think so. So interest rates when they move higher, they require investors to be a little more picky. And that’s exactly what we’ve seen in the market. I mean, investors have rotated into large caps, and they’ve ignored other parts of the market. So I think it’s interesting, it’s something that surprised me, especially when we start we started seeing stocks rally from the October 2020 to 2022 lows, it makes me nervous, because typically in a bull market, you see a rising tide lifts all boats, you see, actually small caps outperform large caps. We’ve seen that in recent bull markets in year one. So you know, it’s it’s weird. It’s a product product of a high rate environment, have gotten a little more used to it. And I think the fact that people are rotating back into small caps, makes me more confident about this thesis of small small caps being the victim of interest rates. And, you know, I think moving into 2024, that means that you should probably tiptoe back into small caps, if you believe rates are coming down, and the market is looking past these worries of a recession.

Jimmy Connor 19:37
And you mentioned the Magnificent Seven and I want to get your views on this because we hear a lot of people say, well, it’s just a few very select stocks that are really outperforming the overall markets in the economy. What are your views on this? And do you think it’s a true representation of what’s happening within the markets? Look,

Callie Cox 19:56
people forget that over time the market has always been top heavy, it’s especially top heavy these days, I’ll give you that. But usually you see this concentration in gains in the top stocks and up years. And there are a lot of good reasons for that. I mean, this, the simple answer is, you know, people know, popular brands. And, you know, the brands leading the market right now The Magnificent Seven, it’s Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Tesla, Nvidia, very well known brands that people are gravitating toward, because they feel the uncomfortable nature of the environment we’re in right now. It’s basically investors saying, you know, we think a recession is ahead of us, or we think some slowdown is ahead of us. So we’re gonna pile into the companies that we think can survive this recession. Of course, there’s, there’s some repositioning in there too. You know, there have been, there’s been speculation of a rate cut for a while now, and Tech has benefited from that. But I really think it’s, it’s this quality risk element where people are saying, you know, the stock market’s moving higher, I don’t want to give up on that quite yet. But at the same time, I don’t feel great about the future. So I’m going to look at these brands with strong profit margins, strong competitive advantages, and just sit in those until things feel better.

Jimmy Connor 21:16
I want to turn the discussion now toward money markets, and you’ve written about this, and how much money is sitting in money market funds right now? Well,

Callie Cox 21:25
money market assets have increased by $1 trillion dollars this year with a tea. It’s, it’s quite crazy. But it makes a little bit more sense when you think about the fact that rates are high, and people can get a decent rate on their savings account right now. I see it as two paths, right? There’s, there are those recession worries that we keep talking about. And typically, when people are worried about the future, they save a little bit more, and they spend and invest a little bit less. But at the same time, your rates are incredibly attractive right now, you know, by savings account, I think it’s a 4.5% rate. At the moment, I haven’t seen that for the entirety of the time, I’ve been working on Wall Street. So you know, investors are faced with pretty tough choices right now. But moving into cash has been especially appealing. I think the tide is changing. At the moment, though, of course, with Jay Powell hinting toward rate cuts, I mean, we could see rates on savings accounts come down rates on money, markets come down. And at the same time, there’s more optimism about the economy. And when people feel good about the economy, you want to be in risk assets, you don’t want to be sitting in cash, and you’re missing out on a rally. You know, from a personal perspective, I think it boils down to how you’re planning to use your money. You know, if you’re saving for short term goals, you’re benefiting from rates right now. And it makes sense that you’re piling your money into savings. But I’ve seen way too many people, you know, pile long term money into cash these days, because they’re worried about the future. And, you know, that, to me, doesn’t make a lot of sense. You know, the optimism around the economy is building. And, you know, we’ve seen time and time again that stocks beat cash over the long run. And there’s an opportunity cost there that you have to keep in mind.

Jimmy Connor 23:14
Yeah, and it’s really tough to make up for that. Because if the markets returning 20 or 25%, and yet your money market fund is only making 5%. It’s tough to make up that extra 15 or 20%. Yeah,

Callie Cox 23:28
one thing that sticks out in my mind, and this is nothing against I Banzai bonds are a great tool for certain investors in certain environments. But when the eye bond rate hit, I believe like nine or 10% Last year, people including my friends, younger investors got so excited, they were snapping up Ivonne, so quickly, I had a friend who told me that he had a friend who started an LLC to buy more ions. To me, that was crazy. And the s&p is up, you know, probably 20% Since then, because that was the middle of 2022. So yes, that rate was appealing, but it moved lower throughout as inflation came down and stocks actually outperformed that 10% rate if it were to stick there. So it all just reminds me of you know, going back to why you’re investing and understanding how markets move in accordance to your goals. I was always skeptical of the Ivonne craze, you know, I’m I’m skeptical of cash right now. I don’t think it’ll stay on the sidelines for long. But you know, if you’re watching this and you’re trying to understand how much cash keeping your portfolio, remember that your long term money probably would benefit by taking a little bit of risk.

Jimmy Connor 24:42
I’m not familiar with I bonds What exactly are they? Okay,

Callie Cox 24:45
so I bonds are inflation like bonds are issued by the government. And they move. I don’t know if I should get into specifics too much because they get kind of wonky, but the rate basically moves based on the rate of inflation. So it’s a way, it’s a tool to ensure that you keep your income or your assets fixed over time with a rate of inflation. And they reset the rate every six months based on CPI and a few other factors in the equation. And I believe back in like April of 22, or May of 22, right when CPI was peeking out, the eye bond rate hit like 9.6% or so, which is really attractive on a risk risk to return perspective. I mean, that’s, that’s almost no risk, because that’s a product of the US government, and you’re making a 9.6% return, the rub was that the rate adjusts every six months. So you’re only getting that 9.6% rate for six months, or I believe it might be three months. But it’s an adjustable rate. And at the same time inflation was coming down. I mean, it was hard to say that CPI was going to increase more than 10 more than the 9% rate that it did in like June of 2022. And, you know, at the same time the stock market was, you know, 20% from its highs. So a market watcher, like me sees that. And, you know, if you’re a long term investor, you definitely buy the dip there.

Jimmy Connor 26:14
So we mentioned at the onset, that eToro has over 30 million accounts globally. And I know you track what these accounts are doing. And I’m curious, what noticeable trends are you seeing with these accounts at eToro?

Callie Cox 26:29
Yeah, so you’re right, Jamie, we have 30 million customers globally. You know, we offer a myriad of products globally, in the US, we offer stocks, crypto and options. Globally, we offer CFDs, we offer the ability to copy other people, you know, we basically have every tool you need at your fingertips, which is really cool, because, you know, you can see what other people are investing in, but we can also keep our finger on the pulse of retail investors, and what they’re doing. And lately in the US, you know, we’ve seen people pile back into crypto, but in a, in a in a conservative way, you know, looking at Bitcoin and Aetherium versus the other altcoins, we’ve seen people get a little bit more excited about stocks, we’ve seen them take a more active stance in their portfolios. And to give you a sense of the kind of customer we have, we have a more active customer, but at the same time, they’re long term investors who want to try new things out in our accounts, you know, they’re excited by the thought of crypto and where it could go, they’re excited about, you know, the ability to, you know, manage their money a little bit tighter and beat inflation and position their money around events. So we’ve seen a lot more excitement around that. You know, there’s still a lot of nervousness among our customers. I mean, I hear it every day, you know, somebody, somebody, you know, sees what’s going on, or they feel the, they feel the strain around them. And they say, Okay, I want to, I want to, you know, pile a little bit more money into cash, me. And luckily, we offer really good cash yield on our brokerages. But you know, if I had to sum it up in one phrase, I’d call it cautious optimism among retail investors, nothing like the 2021 levels we’ve seen, but at the same time, they’re slowly dipping their feet back into actively managing their portfolios. And one thing I want to make clear is that everyday investors never stepped out of the market, they mostly held on to their assets. You know, we’ve seen that over time, they just stopped trading them as much, they just stopped making big bold calls with their money. They just, you know, put their investment strategies on pause for a little bit. And they said, you know, I’ll ride out this environment until things feel better. And then, you know, maybe I’ll step in. And I think that’s a product of the job market. You know, when people are making money, and they’re feeling good about their financial situations, they’re going to invest their money. But when things feel uncomfortable around them, I totally understand why you’d stop trading. So I think this dynamic is interesting going into 2024. And it tells me a lot about sentiment among the everyday investor, you know, the fact that things aren’t euphoric. But you know, investors are feeling a little a little more bold these days. You

Jimmy Connor 29:19
mentioned that eToro is a social investment company. What exactly do you mean by that term?

Callie Cox 29:24
Yeah. So eToro is actually one of the world’s largest social investing apps. And what I mean by that is we have a social feed, in our, in our interface, basically, that allows you to see what other people are investing in what they think about, you know, certain stocks and indices and crypto coins around the world. We have communities on our platform that you can join and learn from investors just like you. And you know, we think transparency is really important. So if you see somebody throw up a post about Apple, for example, you can go to their page and see how they’ve performed over the past year or so. Now some of these features are not available in the US yet I want to make that clear. Globally, everything I just mentioned is very available. But at the heart of things, we believe transparency and community is so important to get everyday investors interested in markets. And we want to provide the tools that they need to feel like they can make smart, educated decisions, when they invest their money.

Jimmy Connor 30:24
Sounds like a fascinating platform. And I wish they had that service here in Canada. I’d love to check it out. Kelly, as we wrap up, I have two questions for you. First of all, I want to know what investors should keep an eye out for in the coming days and weeks as we head into year end. And the second question has to do with the Carolina Panthers. Is there any hope?

Callie Cox 30:45
Ah, okay, I’ll take the first I’ll take the second one. First, um, things are pretty dire in Charlotte at the moment with the Panthers, I think that there probably needs to be some big changes in the back office. But please pray for all the Carolina Panthers fans out there. I’ve been a Panthers fan my whole life. Things are sad. I’ve emotionally detached from the NFL, as I’ve told Jimmy before. So you know, it can’t get worse from you. Right? The Panthers are oversold. Hopefully, we get better, we have a promising quarterback at the helm. So you know what, that’s my optimistic take. But I do think that there are some changes that are probably going to be made in the back office, some big changes that need to happen. But you know, turning back to markets looking into 2024. No, I think investors first of all should celebrate where we’re at. I mean, we’re over a year and a half and a half into rate hikes, and the economy has stood strong. And markets are up, that is a great place to be in going into the holidays. So remember that pat yourself on the back, if you’ve stuck through this bear market in the subsequent rally, it’s been a rough few years for society. But as we move into 2024, watch job market data, watch the unemployment rate, the job market will tell you if we’re heading into a recession. And right now, we mean, it’s hard to see any indications of that watch jobless claims, they’re the classic leading indicator of the job market, they’re still quite low, even if a bit higher than, say a year ago. And you know, remember that markets tend to go up over time society is resilient. You know, humans always find a way to innovate. And there are a lot of really good, you know, long term themes bubbling up under the surface. I mean, AI has been a big has been a big top of markets this year, we could see higher productivity off the back of that means a stronger economy. We’re seeing a huge boom in manufacturing spending, especially around building Evie factories and semiconductor factories in the US. So there are a lot of good things going on. And you know, we’re optimistic about stocks heading into 2024. You know, just remember, we’re in a bull market until proven otherwise. And that proof we need to see is evidence of a significant recession.

Jimmy Connor 33:08
Now we’ll see. And the good thing about the Panthers performance right now, if they continue on like this, you’re going to have a good pick for the draft. Oh,

Callie Cox 33:15
Jimmy, we’re not we traded our picks away. So yeah, that’s one of the sorts of bombers Yeah. And

Jimmy Connor 33:25
Kelly, if someone would like to learn more about you and your firm, where can they go?

Callie Cox 33:29
So we’re all over Iran social our Twitter handles, eToro us etoro.com/news. And analysis is where you can find everything I publish. We have a daily note that’s written by our technical analyst Brett Ken Well, I write a weekly note called the bottom line to ensure you get all of this in your inbox, create an account, and of course, come over check out eToro see what we’ve got going on. We have a great community.

Jimmy Connor 33:55
Well, that was a great overview of what’s happening in the markets. And I want to thank you very much for spending time with us today. And I look forward to our next discussion. Yeah,

Callie Cox 34:03
thanks for having me. This was fun. Well,

Jimmy Connor 34:05
I hope you enjoy that discussion with Callie Cox. She’s a new guest on Wealthion. And we have many more guests lined up in the coming weeks. If you need help with your financial future, consider having a Wealthion endorsed financial advisor to help you at wealthion.com After providing some basic information Wealthion will put you in touch with vetted and advisor. There’s no obligation whatsoever to work with these advisors on your part. It’s simply a free service that Wealthion offers to all of its viewers. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel wealthion.com We have a bunch of new guests coming out in the coming weeks that will help you plan your financial future. Once again, thank you very much for spending time with us today and I look forward to seeing you again soon.