Major markets are trading near all-time highs. The trend has led many experts and investors to wonder when and if the markets will hit their limits. According to Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide, the markets should continue to perform well.
Hackett joins Cheddar to give his take on the current financial environment. He says that the signs of irrational exuberance that analysts noticed before the 2000 and 2008 collapse are not showing in today's market. Individual borrowing and corporation borrowing are healthy, and Hackett thinks the biggest risk lies in government borrowing across the world.
Overall, Hackett is confident the markets will continue to experience clear skies and highs in 2018. Rather than compare today's market to 2008 or 2000, Hackett says markets today are similar to the mid-1990s, a time of global strength and low volatility.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
