The first topic this week on the Big Picture is “A Rate Too Far: The Fed’s Blunder”. Market turbulence around the globe has marked the first three weeks of the new year. As Jim discussed in his Forecast 2016 program, one of the wild cards this year would be a policy mistake coming from the Federal Reserve. Unlike past cycles when the Fed raised rates as the economy and inflation were heating up, this cycle shows nearly non-existent inflation and anemic economic growth. The world today is beset by the four “D’s”, deflation, deleveraging, divergent monetary policy and dollar strength. The problem is that the Fed is now out of sync with the rest of the world. They discuss the implications and what may come next. The next Big Picture topic is “Riders on the Storm”. In this segment, Jim offers some strategies to ride out this turbulent storm in the markets, and how your own strategy will depend on your age and objectives.
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