Forty "W"ritings

Last week, President Biden released his $7.3 trillion budget proposal for the fiscal year 2025 which outlined his spending and revenue plans. President Biden aims to reduce the deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years and increase spending on programs to assist lower income earners cope with inflation. The budget outlines plans to increase the corporate income tax rate to 28% (from 21%) and establishes a 25% income tax rate for those with wealth of at least $100 million. It is important to understand the process to finalize a government budget of this magnitude, as we are likely months away from seeing any concrete decisions made. In this weekly, we aim to outline the budget process and provide an overview of President Biden’s spending plans (as is) and their potential implications for the economy.

On March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) became the second largest bank failure in U.S. history (behind Washington Mutual in 2008). Its collapse crippled the regional banking sector and we quickly witnessed the downfall of two more banks (i.e. Signature Bank two days later and First Republic in May 2023).

Global equity markets surged in February despite hawkish Fed commentary and stubborn inflationary pressures which are calling into question the likelihood of Fed rate cuts.

In this weekly, we focused on some of the major global impacts we have seen as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Last week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan independent organization, released its 10 year projections on the federal budget. This report is full of information about sources of government revenues, outlays and the deficit. Unfortunately, the fiscal situation in the U.S. does not look to get any better as we now have information through 2034.

Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs for winning Super Bowl LVIII. They were the first team to win back to back Super Bowls since the New England Patriots accomplished it about 20 years ago (2003-2004). The Super Bowl is always a bittersweet celebration as we binge on fried food and salty snacks but wake the next day to the realization that football season is over…for now. Therefore, to cheer up football fans we wanted to offer some interesting tidbits about what the Super Bowl has meant for the financial markets. However, we will reassure you that this is for fun and we do not make portfolio decisions around who wins the Super Bowl.