The State of The Economy
BOSTON (CBS) - Before we know it we will be writing 2015! It usually takes me weeks to get into the groove of a new year.
So what were my thoughts last year at this time? I was worried about stock market valuations of some companies like Facebook and now Uber. I am still concerned.
I thought the stock market would have a good year, but frankly, it has had a better year than I thought it would. But be prepared for volatility in the stock market. Look what happened in October, a big decline and then a very quick turn around. It's behaving like our weather and it could easily happen again and may take longer to recover than a couple of weeks!
Interest rates will go up, but probably very little in 2015. That's good news for folks who want to buy a house or expand their business but bad news for retirees looking for stable interest income.
We are in a Goldilocks environment; we have low inflation, low interest rates, and an expanding economy in the U.S., so that bodes well for the economy but the global economy and unrest is a wild card for our economy in 2015.
Energy costs are going down. The first place we see it is at the gas pumps, next we'll see it when we fill up our oil tanks making this winter a bit more palatable.
Washington? Big unknown for next year. We have had a dysfunctional Congress for so long that most of us distrust the very folks we elected into office. Hopefully they can play nice occasionally and get something done.
The job market is slowly recovering but I am still meeting recent college grads and postgrads who are unemployed or underemployed. Now some of them want jobs that will pay them $75,000 fresh out of school. That's not going to happen.
The housing market in New England has improved and I believe will continue to do so, but we are not in one housing market, each city and town has their own micro housing market depending on the local factors.