Talking Points of the Week for Financial Advisors (1/27)

The phase one trade deal with China was signed on Wednesday, including a partial rollback of US tariffs on Chinese goods and commitments from China to purchase more US goods and services, though largely based on demand. Investors are looking towards phase two negotiations, though reports signaled the Trump administration is likely to hold off on reducing tariffs further until after the election in November. Also, the US Senate finally passed the USMCA trade deal with Mexico and Canada, replacing NAFTA, sending it to the President’s desk for his signature. Fourth-quarter earnings season kicked off this week with strong results within the financial sector, notably JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley blew through estimates. The retail sector largely has yet to report but some headwinds may be in store as reports of a high-level leadership reshuffle at Walmart as well as lackluster holiday sales at Target hit the media. Markets continued their upward march with new records being set on the back of trade optimism and the start of the Q4 earnings season. Alphabet crossed a $1T valuation, joining the small club with Apple and Microsoft (Amazon briefly crossed but has since fallen down to “only” $924B). New housing starts significantly beat estimates for December (1.61M vs 1.38M expected) and hit their highest level since 2006. This helped create some optimism around Q4 GDP growth figures, despite lackluster industrial production. Helios Quantitative Research is a dba of Clear Creek Financial Management, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor. This commentary on this website reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints and analyses of the Clear Creek Financial Management, LLC employees providing such comments, and should not be regarded as a description of advisory services provided by Clear Creek Financial Management, LLC or performance returns of any Clear Creek Financial Management, LLC Investments client. The views reflected in the commentary are subject to change at any time without notice. Nothing on this website constitutes investment advice, performance data or any recommendation that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Any mention of a particular security and related performance data is not a recommendation to buy or sell that security. Clear Creek Financial Management, LLC manages its clients’ accounts using a variety of investment techniques and strategies, which are not necessarily discussed in the commentary. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.