Dan Burrows

2 weeks ago | kiplinger.com | Karee Venema |David Dittman |David Payne |Dan Burrows

Can Trump fire Powell? In addition to upending the global economy with his tariffs, President Donald Trump has introduced additional uncertainty for financial markets by undermining the independence of the Federal Reserve and Fed Chair Jerome Powell in a series of public attacks. His behavior could render moot whatever the result of a pending Supreme Court review of a 90-year-old case that could answer the question, can Trump fire Powell?

3 weeks ago | kiplinger.com | Dan Burrows

The bull market came to an abrupt halt midway through the first quarter, with the broader market losing more than 14% since its February peak. Although that's not particularly reassuring, a downbeat start to 2025 should theoretically mean that lots of stocks are on sale. Before we get to stocks with the most upside potential based on industry analysts' average price targets, let's put our current market in perspective. The S&P 500 is off more than 10% for the year to date through late April.

1 month ago | kiplinger.com | Dan Burrows

Only five stocks in the S&P 500 managed to stay in the green as the benchmark index fell more than 12% to wipe out $5.8 trillion in market value in its worst four-day plunge since the early days of the COVID pandemic. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that these stocks all share one thing in common: they're all members of the defensive healthcare sector.

2 months ago | kiplinger.com | Dan Burrows

The February jobs report delivered mixed headline figures but the labor market remains resilient, leaving the forecast for Federal Reserve rate cuts materially unchanged, experts say. U.S. nonfarm payrolls expanded by 151,000 last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday, lower than economists' forecast for the creation of 160,000 jobs. Additionally, the December and January jobs reports were revised down by a combined 2,000.

Feb 12, 2025 | kiplinger.com | Dan Burrows

Stocks ended broadly lower Wednesday after a reading on consumer prices revealed inflation unexpectedly picked up at the start of the year. The lack of progress on disinflation now has market participants expecting just one cut to borrowing costs in 2025. Lower rates equal higher valuations for stocks, which is one reason equity investors are eager for the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to cut the short-term federal funds rate.