Trend Forecast

Despite the global slowdown in trade, countries whose currencies decline against the dollar will help boost their exports because a weaker exchange rate will make their products more price-competitive than US exports.

Moreover, on the home front, as interest rates rise, so too will rates for home mortgages, business and consumer credit. While mortgage rates have spiked since Trump’s victory and are still low by historic standards, with a nation sharply divided and high anxiety among large US population segments, we forecast that any sudden market jolt and/or socioeconomic/geopolitical wildcard events will impair an already overpriced real estate market. That also will negatively affect retail sales, which have just recently begun to rebound