Announcer:
4 Your Money is brought to you by NelsonCorp Wealth Management.
Brandy Auterson-Hurst:
It’s now time for 4 Your Money. We’re joined by David Nelson, CEO of NelsonCorp Wealth Management. Welcome back, David.
David Nelson:
Thank you, Brandy.
Brandy Auterson-Hurst:
Well, it seems that a lot of the forecast of a recession this year have been pushed back. What are some of the factors driving this?
David Nelson:
Well, I think a lot of the recession talk was based on that the Fed was going to increase interest rates and that would start killing demand quickly. But as we’ve seen from some of the recent data that’s come out, that certainly hasn’t been the case. I brought along a chart today that’ll, I think, again, visually show folks as far as what we’re trying to talk about here, and that is month-over-month increases in retail sales. So if you look at January compared to December, it’s a 3% increase, which is just shocking when you look at the inflation that we’ve had over the last several years. To crush the expectations as it has is really a shocking thing. So consumers continue to increase their spending. And if they continue at the same pace that they have, it’s really hard to imagine as far as a hard landing that could come about.
Brandy Auterson-Hurst:
Okay, so does this mean a recession is off the table for this year?
David Nelson:
I think for the first half of the year, for certain that’s the case. However, it does give the Federal Reserve a green light to start raising rates probably a little bit more aggressively than what people are planning on and markets have planned on. We’re now eyeballing probably 6% versus 5%, which was kind of the consensus number before. So time will tell, but in all likelihood, individuals should expect a little bit higher increase as far as in interest rates than what was originally factored in.
Brandy Auterson-Hurst:
All right, time will tell. All right, David, thanks for joining us.
David Nelson:
Thank you.
Brandy Auterson-Hurst:
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