Business Frame Weekly – After a rough month from mid-February to mid-March, investors have reason for some positive sentiment. / The National Retail Federation has issued its annual forecast.

After a rough month from mid-February to mid-March, investors have reason for some positive sentiment in what’s been a highly volatile environment.

The National Retail Federation has issued its annual forecast, anticipating that retail sales will grow between 4% and 6% in 2023.

Tesla’s record first-quarter vehicle sales belie growing concerns that CEO Elon Musk’s inventory of unsold vehicles is reaching unhealthy dimensions despite the generous use of rebates to move metal.

In this newsletter:

• J.P. Morgan Says Buy These 2 High-Yield Dividend Stocks — Including One With 9% Yield
• 2023 Retail Sales Forecast to Grow 4% to 6%
• Manchin steps up clash with Biden over electric-car tax credits
• Elon Musk Breaks Guinness Record for Losing the Most Money of Anyone in History
• Elon Musk’s swelling inventories of unsold Tesla cars have Wall Street worried
• Arkansas Storm Victims Get Tax Deadline Extension to July 31

April 4, 2023

J.P. Morgan Says Buy These 2 High-Yield Dividend Stocks — Including One With 9% Yield

After a rough month from mid-February to mid-March, investors have reason for some positive sentiment in what’s been a highly volatile environment. Since hitting bottom on March 13, the S&P 500 has gained back 6.5%, and is back up to a 7.5% year-to-date gain. But not so fast, says JPMorgan asset management CIO Bob Michele, who takes a cautious view of the long-term. The defensive moves that the JPM analysts are recommending are high-yield dividend stocks, with long histories of keeping up reliable payment streams for dividend investors – and with yields well above average, even approaching 9% or better.

2023 Retail Sales Forecast to Grow 4% to 6%

The National Retail Federation has issued its annual forecast, anticipating that retail sales will grow between 4% and 6% in 2023. The National Retail Federation has issued its annual forecast, anticipating that retail sales will grow between 4% and 6% in 2023. In total, NRF projects that retail sales will reach between $5.13 trillion and $5.23 trillion this year.

Manchin steps up clash with Biden over electric-car tax credits

Senator Joe Manchin stepped up his fight with the Biden administration over its implementation of the president's signature climate bill in a way Manchin says over-emphasizes clean energy technology, turns away from fossil-fuel production and spends too much. "They just want to throw caution to the wind and put more money out and throw more money from the Treasury and credits that basically are not going to accelerate how quickly that we can be totally self-reliant," Manchin, a Democrat of West Virginia, said on "Fox News Sunday." In separate comments on CNN's "State of the Union," Manchin wouldn't rule out taking legal action to stop the administration's interpretation of the legislation.

Elon Musk Breaks Guinness Record for Losing the Most Money of Anyone in History

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Twitter owner has officially lost the most amount of money of anyone in history — roughly between $182 billion and $200 billion (or more) of his personal fortune since November 2021. Musk was dethroned from the top spot of the world's richest people by Arnault last December after Musk's whiplash purchase of Twitter for an estimated $44 billion, which caused him to sell roughly $15 million in his own Tesla shares months earlier as a means of financing the acquisition.

Elon Musk’s swelling inventories of unsold Tesla cars have Wall Street worried

Tesla’s record first-quarter vehicle sales belie growing concerns that CEO Elon Musk’s inventory of unsold vehicles is reaching unhealthy dimensions despite the generous use of rebates to move metal. Shares, which rallied more than 6% on Friday ahead of this weekend’s results, are indicated to open lower as investors are expected to take profit on their recent bullish bets.

Arkansas Storm Victims Get Tax Deadline Extension to July 31

This means eligible taxpayers will have until July 31 to file and pay tax returns, as well as to make 2022 contributions to their IRAs and health savings accounts. Individuals and households that reside or have a business in Cross, Lonoke and Pulaski counties in Arkansas now have until July 31, 2023, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments, the Internal Revenue Service has announced.

Random Ramblings

• New law revamps retirement saver’s credit.
• The CPA shortage compels accounting firms to embrace digital transformation
• IRS got rid of employee suggestion program, but never replaced it.
• IRS extends transition period on foreign withholding taxes
• How universities are working to boost the CPA pipeline?