The biggest unknowns facing investors in 2024: Morning Brief
Big ideas, bold actions.
That is the driving spirit behind Yahoo Finance's Invest conference kicking off live today in New York City at Moonlight Studios. A whole day of access to awesome, market-moving thought leaders in the world of business and life all in one spot.
The lineup includes Verizon chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg, AT&T CEO John Stankey, former CNN chief Jeff Zucker, DoubleLine CEO Jeffrey Gundlach, tennis phenom Naomi Osaka, and Olympic great Lindsey Vonn — to name-drop a few.
I am jazzed up by what we have on tap, and I hope you enjoy it immensely as well.
You can watch it live on Yahoo Finance's homepage, app, and YouTube channel starting at 8:45 a.m. ET. And, of course, please share your thoughts with us on X and Instagram — just tag @YahooFinance.
Geopolitical turmoil in Ukraine, Israel, and South America has cooled investor sentiment and unleashed a fresh dose of uncertainty into markets.
Interest rates have risen considerably and households are still battling an unsteady job market and nagging inflation. The US presidential election in 2024 is already adding to a host of concerns for consumers and the markets.
While these challenges are front and center, there are nonetheless pockets of opportunity for the investing masses. AI is fundamentally changing corporate America. Profits are robust. And economic growth is still strong.
As we head into Invest, I am most interested in views from guests on the long-run impact of the Fed's campaign to squash inflation. I happen to be in the camp that believes markets and the economy haven't felt the impact of the Federal Reserve taking up interest rates to 22-year highs.
Sure, we have seen initial impacts to credit card delinquencies (they are rising) and the housing market (mortgage rates near 8% are driving a slowdown, which has even spread to appliances), but by and large investors have taken this in stride.
They have also taken in stride quantitative tightening and the ballooning fiscal deficit coming at the hands of higher debt servicing costs.
Indeed, I am not alone in being concerned about the long arms of the Fed.
"I personally believe that at one point it will rattle the markets," JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told me last week. And new research out of Dimon's investment bank underscores the realities facing consumers and businesses because of elevated interest rates and inflation.
"For the middle class (20%-60%) real liquidity is back to pre-Covid level, while the bottom 40% are worse-off compared to before," the firm wrote. "Importantly, even as of the second quarter of 2023, nearly all the inflation-adjusted excess cash sits with the relatively affluent."
Corporate debt has doubled since 2007. And while large caps might be well insulated, smaller companies face the prospect of raising cash at elevated rates over the next two years.
All this and so much more will be coming from Yahoo Finance Invest all day long.
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
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