Predicting the stock market is not for any average person on the street, and it is one of the most challenging jobs ever. But at times, there are some severe indicators in the economy that makes one or get a glimpse of what is coming.
Stock prices are directly influenced by economic factors, and such factors are serious critical indicators of what to expect. Being in touch with what and how the economy is performing allows one to understand the stock market. Therefore, as the economic performance changes, so do the company’s performance during that period.
Companies listed on the stock market depend most of the time on the economic environment. With the economic expansion, many people are willing to spend on goods and services and consequently invest. Such performance parameters support and influence the stock price targets and the prices as a whole.
The opposite is true as with the Eurozone Will Post A Decline In Fourth-Quarter GDP struggling economy, the people spending power dwindles, and people usually tend to shy away from such expenses. The stock market in return suffers. It is essential to keep a keen eye on the following economic factors that significantly impact the stock market’s performance.
Interest Rates
The changes in interest rates on commodities and services significantly affect and influence the stock market’s performance. Changes greatly influence stock prices in interest rates. The rise in interest rate hurts borrowing, which involves eating into the company’s profit margins. Stock prices usually drop significantly with reducing profits. A struggling economy coupled with working dropping interest rates cuts has a turnaround effect that makes money slightly less expensive to borrow. Overall, such an incentive provides a boost to the economy and hence the stock market flourish. The above scenario is not always the ideal case, as we recently saw interest rate cuts through the federal reserve. It was inadequate or didn’t have a significant impact on the stock market.
Inflation and Deflation
The pressure exhibited on the prices of commodities has a direct influence on the prevailing stock market. Inflation can loosely get described as the pressure to review prices of commodities upwards. With the rise in inflation, the purchasing power decreases. Companies usually get concerned about these effects, and sometimes they tend to hoard the money-making inflation an issue. On the other hand, deflation gets not viewed as much of a big problem as lower prices translate to better purchasing power.
Flipping the same and viewing it from economic lenses, deflation is a major and a serious sign that the economy is heading to serious trouble ahead. Manageable inflation is considered healthy and desirable in the economy but not in extreme measures.
One of the federal reserve roles is to use all the available tools to keep inflation in the manageable range. They regularly review the interest rate and other factors that affect the rate of inflation and deflation.
GDP
The gross domestic product, or GDP as it is popularly known, is one of the significant factors influencing the stock market. The rise in gross domestic product signals optimism and better times ahead both for the economic output and the same for the stock market.
GDP has an overall effect that increases the spending power that boosts the economy. On the contrary, when the GDP is lower, it indicates hard and struggling economic times ahead. The confidence in the economy and the stock market as a whole drop.
In a rare situation, a lower gross domestic product has a boost on the stock prices, and they tend to do well in such circumstances. The rise and fall in GDP is a cycle that can repeat itself for quite some time, and as a result, the lower stock market prompts a cation on the market that positively impacts the gross domestic product.
Unemployment
If you consider unemployment a factor of economic growth, you will be surprised by how critical it is to lag in stocks. Unemployment is one of the vital indicators of a poorly managed economy and hence a struggling stock market.
Some economic recovery measures must be undertaken to reduce the unemployment rate to manageable levels that do not affect other economic sectors of the industry. A higher unemployment rate than expected affects the stock market negatively.
Many employable workforces are looking for work, and if they cannot find it, it spells a tall order for the economy, and often stock prices get affected.
