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S&P 500 Over the Years

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I think as the year closed out I took the market decline too personally when we are all suffering from the declines in our portfolio. And it's not like these declines are permanent or even long lasting when you look at the history of the markets. It's a set back the year that was but things will get better eventually. 

S&P 500 Over the Years

Employers Cut Jobs in Unexpectedly Weak Report – The New York Times

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Jobs Report Live Updates: Employers Cut Jobs in Unexpectedly Weak Report – The New York Times

Austan Goolsbee, the Chicago Fed president, also added in his interview that there were enough “question marks” around February’s data related to bad weather and strikes that could have had an impact on monthly jobs growth. He also stressed that the unemployment rate, at 4.4 percent, was basically unchanged from the same time last year. But any indication that the unemployment rate was continuing to rise would be a problem, he noted. “If you start to see that number rising the way it does traditionally at the beginning of recession, that would be a bad sign,” he said. Goolsbee added: “If the job market is getting worse and inflation is getting worse at the same time, it’s not obvious to me what the immediate response should be.”

The Oil Bottleneck Threatening the Global Economy – WSJ

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Strait of Hormuz: The Oil Bottleneck Threatening the Global Economy – WSJ

President Trump’s promise to protect the Strait of Hormuz with naval escorts and provide government-backed marine insurance underscores the urgent need to restore flows of energy from the Middle East before soaring prices rip through the world economy.

As of Wednesday, day five of the war on Iran, several thousand ships were stuck inside and outside the Persian Gulf, trapping roughly a fifth of the oil and liquefied natural gas the world consumes each day. The blockage is cascading through the region’s industry as storage tanks fill up with oil that can’t set sail, forcing producers to slash output.

The problem is most acute in Iraq, the world’s fifth-biggest producer. Output has more than halved, oil officials in the country said, with cutbacks at the southern Rumaila and West Qurna 2 fields.

Why Tariffs Aren’t Shrinking the U.S. Trade Deficit – WSJ

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Why Tariffs Aren’t Shrinking the U.S. Trade Deficit – WSJ

On the contrary, recent data show the tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down on Friday and that Trump has vowed to reimpose under a different statute are cementing these imbalances.

From Berlin to Tokyo, the world’s biggest exporting countries have reacted to U.S. tariffs by further committing to economic policies that support exports, subsidizing manufacturers to help them leap over the tariff wall.

As for America, it very much remains the world’s importer of last resort. The U.S. trade deficit in goods rose to a record high of $1.24 trillion in 2025, driven by a 4.3% increase in goods imports, according to data published Thursday by the Census Bureau.