XLF Mar 2025 42.000 call
- Yahoo Finance Video
Top tips for positioning your portfolio, paying taxes: Wealth!
On today's episode of Wealth!, Host Alexandra Canal breaks down key personal finance tips, from balancing your portfolio to preparing to file your taxes. Matt Powers, Powers Advisory Group managing partner, discusses how to best position your portfolio in a rate-easing cycle and an election year. In a lower interest rate environment, Powers focuses on traditional defensive sectors like utilities (XLU), consumer staples XLP (XLP), and financials XLF (XLF), noting that “we still expect some short-term volatility as we enter October, which is historically the most volatile month of the year in election years.” As mortgage rates hit a two-year low, Yahoo Finance's Dani Romero breaks down what it means for potential homebuyers as they navigate the housing market. Meanwhile, Danielle Hale, Realtor.com's chief economist, breaks down the pros and cons between buying now and waiting. "Now we're at that seasonal slowdown sweet spot for buyers. So there's less competition which can make it easier to snag a deal on a home. At the same time, you might see lower rates if you wait into the spring. But you might have to offset those lower rates with more competition and better prices. You know, in essence, I don't think buyers can go wrong either way," she tells Yahoo Finance. In August, LegalShield's Consumer Stress Legal Index ticked up to its highest level since November 2020. In presidential battleground states, stress rose even more, and historically, that elevated battleground stress during October and November has resulted in a Republican White House win. LegalShield SVP of Consumer Analytics Matt Layton explains, "Our index is really made up of three different subindices: The bankruptcy index, foreclosure index, and a consumer finance index. Each of those three individuals are also increasing over the last several months. But when we speak to our lawyers, we hear issues like job security, layoffs — folks are concerned about their jobs. They don't have enough money at the end of the month to pay their bills." If you received a tax extension in April, the due date is October 15 — just over two weeks away. Tom O’Saben, National Association of Tax Professionals director of tax content, notes that it is crucial to pay your taxes on time to avoid any penalties, which could be as much as 5% per month. In addition, failure to pay the penalty could end up being as much as 25% of the tax itself. He warns that the statute of limitations for the IRS to audit a return is unlimited for returns that aren't filed, compared to the normal three-year window. If you don't have the ability to pay your taxes in full, O’Saben explains that the IRS offers both short-term and long-term payment plans. This post was written by Melanie Riehl
- Yahoo Finance Video
Rate cuts will fuel an 'upswing' for these sectors: Strategist
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) have pulled back from their all-time highs, with the Dow snapping its four-day winning streak. Citi US equity strategist Drew Pettit joins Market Domination Overtime to discuss the latest movement and what investors can expect in the second half of the year. Pettit believes the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut is behind the most recent market action. He explains, "I think the Fed, and honestly heading into the Fed decision, interest rates across the curve coming down gave people more confidence to look through some potential softness in the labor market, maybe a little bit of softness in earnings macro data, even the housing data today, out the other side to say, 'Hey, the Fed isn't going to be as far behind the curve. That's OK. I can start positioning for the recovery.' And we've seen not just the secular stories work, but we've seen some of the cyclical stories start to work, at least since the mid-July interim peak." As the third quarter earnings season looms ahead, he believes the market has not reached its peak. He notes that growth stocks can "probably survive any type of weakness," while cyclicals will finally get a boost from falling interest rates. Pettit adds, "We actually think we're on an upswing for some of the parts of the market that really haven't gotten much love over the past couple of years." While tech stocks have gotten a lot of love over the last year, he expects some pressure ahead: "The growth side of the market has had really strong growth. So it becomes the problem of, let's call it, the law of large numbers. You're growing really fast. It's hard to keep that up forever. But when growth stocks see their sales decelerate, there's been points in the past where that has actually pressured their earnings." However, he believes many Tech players will be able to handle topline deceleration. Thus, Pettit encourages investors to be cautious with tech moving forward. He encourages them instead to get into overlooked areas of the market like cyclicals, consumer goods (XLP, XLY), and financials (XLF). For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination Overtime. This post was written by Melanie Riehl
- Yahoo Finance Video
Why there's 'upside' in the S&P 500 as the Fed lowers rates
The Federal Reserve kicked off its highly anticipated interest rate easing cycle last week with a 50-basis-point cut. Summit Place Financial Advisors founder and president Liz Miller joins Wealth! to break down how investors can best position their portfolios in a lower-rate environment. "So far this year, we saw the early part of the year really led by, we know, the mega-cap techs and they've held up fine. But what we're going to see now, and we've even started to see in the last week or two, is that some of these other sectors that are more interest-rate sensitive are going to start doing better, like housing and rentals (XLRE) and financials (XLF) and consumer goods (XLP, XLY) that really were struggling in the market the first part of this year," Miller tells Yahoo Finance. With the S&P 500 (^GSPC) at all-time highs, Miller notes that it is largely skewed by mega-cap tech stocks. "When we look at other sectors, they aren't making all-time highs. And our last high in the market was really December 2021," she adds. Thus, she believes that there is a lot of upside in the index as the Federal Reserve continues to cut lower interest rates. As China looks to recover its weak economy through a series of stimulus measures, Miller expects the nation's growth to impact US investments: "What's really needed is to get consumers in China to regain their confidence and start spending again. We look at luxury goods as sort of one of the easy views on what's China spending. We own a lot of multinationals, from Apple (AAPL) to Nike (NKE), that all do better when China is doing better. So we see this in small ways in a lot of US investments too." Miller views Nike as one of her top retail picks following the leadership shake-up. She calls the company "one of the most valuable brands in the world," and with the stock's decline over the last few years, investors can get it at a discount. She expects to see a "turnaround story" in Nike's fundamentals, and hopes to see new leadership return the company to its competitive position. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth! This post was written by Melanie Riehl
