The Weekly Recap

Friday’s prevention of the government shutdown caused the markets to explode, but with trade news looming on the horizon, the last few earnings reports trickling out, oil prices rising thanks to limited supply and a variety of other factors, both the Bulls and the Bears are hesitant to make any move from here.

In the meantime, here’s what did happen this week:

Market News

Building a Border Wall is a National Emergency!

In order to get funding for the border wall, Trump declared a National Emergency on Friday, a move previously criticized by the Democrats. What this means to the markets will only play out in the coming days and weeks. Trump also signed an extension to the budget negotiations. This pulls immediate concerns of a government shutdown off the table, however the extension doesn’t mean the government won’t shut down again when the next round comes up.

Goldman Sachs – make up your mind!

Last week, Goldman said you may have missed all the gains 2019 has to offer if you missed the January rally. This week, Goldman’s CEO said the US economy is “chugging along” and the chance of a recession is quite small. We don’t mind the good news, but a little consistency goes a long way, “Golden Slacks!”

A trillion here, a trillion there – eventually, it adds up to real money.

The national debt reached record levels this week – $22 trillion. We find that sometimes a number that big looks better with all the zeroes: $22,000,000,000,000! However, CNBC says there’s nothing to be concerned about – yet – as the bigger issue is the debt-to-GDP (Gross Domestic Production) number which is not in the danger zone.

MoviePass finds the fire exit.

Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY), the holding company behind MoviePass – a service that promised all the theater trips you could want for one low monthly fee – was delisted this week after a throw-yourself-from-the-building drop from a high of $9,714.38 a share in October 2017 to $0.0093 when it was delisted on February 12. There are no words.

Bitcoin? We don’t need no stinkin’ Bitcoin. JP Morgan says, “Let’s just make our own!”

JP Morgan surprised many by announcing JPM Coin, their own cryptocurrency and the first bank-backed crypto. Does that mean Bitcoin will “moon” now? Don’t count on it. To learn more, check out Get Irked’s feature story on the subject.

Next Week’s Gameplan

The U.S.-China Trade Wars are in a holding pattern until Trump can meet with President Xi and that won’t happen before the tariffs are supposed to go up in March.

Good news is bad news? Although the delay of the government shutdown is definitely good, taking good news off the table means that catalyst has been played. What will move the markets up next? Is there anything?

Will there be more global economic downturn news? Almost definitely.

Will any of it affect the U.S.? Only time will tell!

As always, stay tuned to Get Irked for all the tips, tricks and news affecting your financial future.

This Week on Get Irked in Play

With the market levitating higher, we made only two moves in our Investments in Play, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth an update – we broke one of our cardinal rules and it bit us in the butt.

Learn which rule we broke, why we broke it and why you should always stick to your trading discipline.

Meanwhile, our Trades in Play kept us hopping this week.

Stay tuned later this weekend for Episode 6 of both coming soon to a Get Irked website near you!