The Trump administration has recently signaled that it’s looking at temporary reduction in payroll taxes as one way it can help support the economy through any COVID-19-releated economic slowdown. Today we take a brief look at what a payroll reduction is, how it would be implemented, and what it might do.

What are payroll taxes? Payroll taxes are taxes paid by employers and employees, primarily to cover the cost of Social Security and Medicare. Social security taxes are 12.4% of wages (up to a cap), half paid by the employer and half paid by the employee, while Medicare taxes are 2.9%, again evenly divided between employer

In just 13 trading days, the S&P 500 Index pulled back nearly 19% from its recent all-time highs, making this the fastest such move in stock market history. We all know why this happened, as concerns over COVID-19 (coronavirus) and potential economic fallout continue to grip investors around the globe.

The big question now is: Will a potential bear market in stocks usher in a recession? After all, stocks tend to lead the economy both into and out of recessions. “History tells us that the worst bear markets have taken place during a recession,” said LPL Financial Senior Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “Now th

On October 16, 2008 in an editorial for The New York Times, Warren Buffet, considered by many to be one of the greatest investors of his generation, repeated one of his favorite maxims: Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. Markets would subsequently see considerable losses before reaching their lows almost five months later on March 6, 2009. Buffet didn’t call the bottom, and there were still gains to be made for highly tactical investors who were betting against stocks. But looking back on Buffet’s remarks today, the advice was quite prescient.

As we sit writing this blog, with the S&

As the coronavirus continues to scare global markets, it would be easy forget that the current bull market started 11 years ago today. Based on investing fundamentals, we continue to believe we’ll see a resumption of economic growth and a continuation of this bull market into at least 2021, but worries are building. We highlight three reasons this bull market is alive and well, and three reasons it could be on borrowed time.

Three Reasons the Bull May Make It to 12

As shown in FIGURE 1, currently this is the longest bull market on record, recently peaking at more than a 400% gain, but it still hasn’t topped the 4