Annuity Buzz

The U.S. economy has shown growth for 121 consecutive months since June 2009. Unfortunately, our GDP growth may be slowing down. Goldman Sachs predicts that the European Central Bank will lower its deposit rate by 20 basis points and restart quantitative easing in September.

The stock market rebounded sharply in the first quarter, roughly making up for losses during the fourth quarter of 2018. Economic news didn’t change substantially over the last three months, but market sentiment clearly did.

For the year as a whole, the U.S. market experienced strong returns. This was despite a particularly destructive hurricane season which, according to Moody's, resulted in combined U.S. property damage of over $200 billion. Another one of the most remarkable things about 2017 was the complete lack of market volatility. But perhaps one of the biggest surprises was the stability of Eurozone politics after years of disarray.