According to the experts being quoted on NBR last Friday, I think that their comments do not jive with your dire predictions. There will be many places in the world that will be hurt drastically but the predictions for the USA are still quite strong because of the health currently. Banks are much stronger than in 2008. The stock market is just now considered to have gone into the correction territory, and some experts predict that it will be profitable by end of mid year. Most of the expert investing advisors being asked were saying that they are telling their clients to still buy value with cash that is on hand. There is a lot of liquidity in the stock market right now. This is not yet a bear market. Predictions are that the stock market will still rise in the coming year, although the volatility will be considerable. Even though the percent losses in stock prices are there, the actual volume of shares being sold are relatively low for panic selling.
Walmart is still healthy. NBR is reporting this: Wal-Mart said Friday it will close 269 stores across the globe, including 154 in the U.S. The world’s largest retailer also will open as many as 405 stores globally in the coming fiscal year, as it shifts its focus toward Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets in profitable locations.
Bottomline - In the coming year, Walmart will be opening more stores than they are closing. They are just wisely retooling their fleet of stores and getting rid of the loss leaders.
My son-in-law is a financial officer in a mid-sized oil company. With oil price in the low thirties, I asked him about the health of the company and future layoffs earlier this week. He said that they are in decent shape because they have hedged against falling oil prices and will not be losing substantially. They are gearing up to start exporting oil out of this country. So they must think they they can sell their excess for a profit sometime this year. Yes, the weaker oil companies will be culled out, but the smarter ones who have been investing their capital wisely will still be around. NBR says The oil market has yet to reach a “shock price point” that will persuade drillers to lay down production.
U.S. drillers have proved more resilient at lower prices than previously thought.
Personally, I will let the market drop a few points more, and then I will start taking advantage of the cheapest stock prices within a year. Experts are still saying that the Fed Reserve will still increase rates a couple of times this year. That would not be happening if expectations were now that the economy is tanking.
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Last edited: Jan 16, 2016