The beginning of each year is a time for predictions. And some financial analysts doubt that 2025 can be as spectacular as the financial markets have been in 2023 and 2024. For all the doom and gloom talk by some politicians about the overall economy – although, inflation has surpassed some Americans’ increases in their paychecks since COVID-19 hit – the financial markets have enjoyed their strongest back-to-back years in a quarter century.
Some financial analysts interviewed in a CNN story predicted that 2025 could be the year for a significant market correction. Much of the market group is the result of a select group of companies.
The so-called “Magnificent Seven” group of tech stocks surged 29% on the Nasdaq in 2024 after jumping 43% in 2023.
Artificial intelligence development has led buyers’ interest in the seven companies.
‘Magnificent Seven” technology companies:
Apple
Alphabet (Google)
Amazon
Meta (Facebook)
Microsoft
Nvidia
Tesla
RELATED: Investor’s Business Daily follows the recent gains and falls for the Magnificent Seven stocks and how they disproportionately influence the financial markets. Read that here.
ALSO RELATED: If you are a fan of old school Western films, then you may remember the 1960 movie, “The Magnificent Seven,” which depicted a group of seven gunmen. Investopedia looked at why Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett used the movie’s title to describe the top seven tech companies’ influence today on the financial markets. Here is that story.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, called the elevated market returns “frothy” right now and said that he could see a scenario where values drop 20% this year.
Farmland values are also expected to fall in 2025 according to several outlooks. American Farmland Owner reported on the anticipated decline in farmland values in both Illinois and Iowa. See that story here.
The pessimism, albeit short-term, is part of an environment that acknowledges the strains across agriculture. John Deere has followed a series of announcements in 2024 that it was reducing workers across the Midwest with another one this month.
This time the company confirmed that it is cutting 75 jobs at its facility in Ottumwa, Iowa. John Deere announced that its projected earnings in 2025 would be down $5 billion from 2023. Brownfield Ag News has the details about when the layoffs will take effect. Find that here.
The Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll captured how much farmers are concerned about their financial well-being. The poll surveyed 950 farmers. The results showed that 62% expected that their economic situation would be worse over the next five years.
J. Arbuckle, the Iowa State University extension sociologist who led the poll, said that was the highest level of economic worry that the poll has measured in its 33-year history.
SolarEdge Technologies -- based in Milpitas, California -- announced that it would lay off 400 employees worldwide. That is the fourth layoff announced over the past year for the company, according to TechCrunch, which tracks workforce changes in the technology sector.
ICON Technology Inc, the Austin, Texas-based company that builds 3D-printed homes is laying off about one-quarter of its 400 employees. Higher interest rates have lessened demand for homes across the United States.
Fox 7-TV in Austin has a report on how the company is stressing an emphasis on robotic technology for homebuilders. See that story here.
Marc Brinkmeyer, owner and Chairman of the Board of Idaho Forest Group, explained to American Farmland Owner why the homebuilding business is suffering right now and the strain that puts on the timber industry. Watch that interview here.
