*By Michael Teich*
Investors may be concerned that current trade tensions will escalate into a full-blown trade war, but such fears could be overblown, said JPMorgan global market strategist Alex Dryden.
“It’s not as bad as it seems,” he said in an interview with Cheddar Wednesday. “Cooler heads will prevail.”
The Dow Industrials marked a 7-day losing streak Wednesday, the longest losing stretch the index has seen since March 2017. While the threat of a potential trade war has been lingering for weeks on Wall Street, it was most recently ignited when President Donald Trump said he was considering taxing an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Dryden said the U.S.’s end game is to open up the Chinese economy, but if the U.S. does ultimately find itself in a trade war, “the consumer is the end loser,” said Dryden.
“It drives up inflation and drives up prices.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/stocks-stabilize-as-u-s-china-tensions-persist).
Rising safety concerns over water bead products marketed to kids have prompted major retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart to pull some toys off their shelves.
The Congressional Budget Office said Friday it expects inflation to nearly hit the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate in 2024, as overall growth is expected to slow and unemployment is expected to rise into 2025, according to updated economic projections for the next two years.
Intel is out with a new product to challenge other big players in the space like Nvidia and AMD.
Stocks fell after the opening bell Friday but will end on another positive week.
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Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate dropped below 7% to its lowest level since early August, another boost for prospective homebuyers who have largely been held back by sharply higher borrowing costs and heightened competition for relatively few homes for sale.
Mortgage rates have dropped below 7% for the first time since the middle of August.
Taylor Swift grossed nearly $2 billion this year, according to Billboard.
A study from US News and World Report has found the most affordable place to retire is in Ohio.
