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The US economy had a tumultuous year in 2020, to say the least, and after rebounding strongly in the third quarter, the holiday surge in COVID-19 cases increased the risk that the economy may stumble heading into the new year.

 2020 was a good year for stock investors despite unprecedented challenges.

Back in July, we wrote in our July 23 LPL Research blog that dollar weakness may continue, highlighting a short-term bearish technical case for the US dollar. Since then, the Bloomberg US Dollar Index and the US Dollar Index (DXY) are down 5.3% and 4.1%, respectively.

2020 has been one of the most unprecedented years in recent history, but some things—like tax contributions and retirement deadlines—don't change much, if at all. And with the uncertainty surrounding just about everything, meeting these deadlines and getting tax efficiencies in place now may help the rest of the year run more smoothly.

With the holiday season just around the corner, you may be ready to get a jump on your holiday shopping. Unfortunately, for many, holiday shopping easily gets out of control. When you are in the giving spirit, you may find yourself racking up debt rather quickly. When this happens, you are then left to deal with eliminating that debt and often paying interest.

It may be a year or more before the end of the recession is officially called, but gauging from the growth we’ve seen since April, it may already be over. If that’s true, it’s a good time to take a look at what US Treasury yields do early in a new economic cycle.

There is a good possibility that you or your spouse will eventually require some form of long-term care (LTC). According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, at least 70% of people aged 65 or older will require some form of long-term care services and support during their lives.¹

By the last third of the calendar year, you're likely to have a pretty good idea of what your annual income will be and whether any major expenses or big life changes await you.

With Election Day a mere five days away, we at LPL Research thought we would add one last election forecaster to the mix of what we’ve presented over the last several months—as much because of what it might tell us about the American electorate as what it might tell us about the election.

We continue to monitor real-time COVID-19 and economic data to provide insight into how the pandemic is affecting economies around the world. Traditional economic data sometimes can be too slow to pick up the changes that are occurring. Today we focus on Europe.