Charles Schwab: Expects the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates two to three times in the second half of this year
ChainCatcher news, Charles Lin, a financial advisor at Charles Schwab Hong Kong, stated that the U.S. may be undergoing a rolling recovery process. Coupled with the resilient performance of U.S. stocks, it is expected that the Federal Reserve may begin to cut interest rates in the second half of this year, by two to three times. He remains optimistic about the financial, energy, and materials sectors of U.S. stocks that benefit from a high-interest environment. He believes that traditional investment products such as stocks and bonds will not be replaced by virtual currencies at this time.Charles Lin believes that the manufacturing PMI in March returned to the high level of September 2022. Although the service sector data has shown a slowdown, it is still within the expansion range. These indicators suggest that the U.S. may be in a rolling recovery process. Meanwhile, the recent performance of U.S. stocks has been resilient and returned to reasonable levels, with some inflation data showing signs of easing. Therefore, it is expected that the U.S. will likely cut interest rates as early as the second half of the year.Regarding U.S. stock selections, Charles Lin pointed out that due to the sustained high-interest environment, it is anticipated that the revenues of the three major sectors—financial, energy, and materials—will experience stable growth, and these stocks may see an upward trend this year.Earlier, Bitcoin prices continuously reached new highs, even surpassing silver to become the eighth largest asset globally. Charles Lin noted that Bitcoin is a new type of investment product that he believes will attract a group of investors. However, its regulation is not yet complete, the overall trading transparency is low, and investor protection is limited. At this moment, he believes that Bitcoin will not replace the status of traditional investment products such as stocks and bonds. He further stated that the price of virtual currencies is highly volatile and risky, and investors should allocate their investments based on their risk tolerance. Therefore, he does not recommend that general investors treat such assets as long-term deployments, but rather use them as speculative tools.He also mentioned that although the first batch of virtual asset spot ETF products has been listed in Hong Kong, the company currently does not provide specific related investment advice and deployment for clients. However, if clients have needs, relevant information and data can be provided.
