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4th of July Travel Investing for Beginners: Wealth!

On today’s episode of Wealth!, host Brad Smith breaks down some of the major themes impacting the markets (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC), from a struggling housing sector to record-breaking travel over the Fourth of July weekend. New home sales for the month of May fell more than 11%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Yelena Maleyev, senior economist at KPMG, says it will be a while before the housing sector sees relief, predicting only one interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve before December: “We’ve pushed that forecast back to December, so we’re expecting a rate cut in December, which will help bring overall mortgage rates down to about 6.5% by the end of the year. That’s probably not what people who are waiting for those 3% mortgage rates want to hear, but unfortunately, those days are behind us.” » She adds that a few more rate cuts in the pipeline could push mortgage rates back to 5.5%. U.S. stock markets have hit all-time highs in 2024, largely driven by growth in semiconductor and chip stocks like Nvidia (NVDA). Jay Jacobs, BlackRock’s head of U.S. thematic and active ETFs, sits down with Brad Smith on Wealth! for Yahoo Finance’s ETF Report to discuss several of BlackRock’s notable iShares ETFs as they relate to the growing AI landscape and the demands for energy and digital infrastructure that come with mass adoption. The number of U.S. households holding stocks directly increased by 6% between 2019 and 2022, according to a Federal Reserve study of consumer finances. Andrea Finan, head of self-directed investing at JPMorgan Wealth Management, says her best advice for beginning investors is to “find the experts… Go to accredited places to get information and learn. I really focus on getting people curious about investing and learning and using the tools…” Finally, with more than 24 million people expected to leave U.S. airports over the Fourth of July weekend, Hayley Berg, chief economist at Hopper, offers a preview of the busy weekend ahead. She explains that summer travel prices have eased, as airfares are down 18% in the U.S. and hotel and rental car prices remain in line with previous years: “So travelers who are taking a trip can definitely stretch their travel budget to things like activities and maybe a few nice dinners out rather than spending so much money on lodging and flights.” This article was written by Melanie Riehl