Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses the economy and the market in 2026 with business journalist, Jane King.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
This morning, managing your portfolio in 2026. Joining me now is Jane King. She’s joining us from the New York Stock Exchange.
Jane, Happy New Year. Great to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.
Jane King, Business Journalist
Great to be back with you, Jeffrey, and Happy New Year to you.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And thank you so much. And Jane, let’s just start off with, and I want to, I don’t want to look back. I’d like to look forward with you, and I’m not asking you to make these predictions and grab your eight ball.
But let’s talk about 2026. First, let’s start with the economy. 4.3% growth in the last GDP number, I think it’s all for Q3. What’s the outlook look like for the U.S. economy in 26?
Jane King, Business Journalist
Well, a lot of that is going to depend on interest rates and the Fed chair, which we should know, you know, pretty soon who that’s going to be. But President Trump has made it clear that he wants somebody who is going to aggressively cut interest rates. And he believes that that’s the key to really spurring the economy.
And if we can get those interest rates down, you know, I’ve done several stories lately about how, you know, debt is accumulating for people because of these interest rates. They can’t get a handle on credit cards and car loans. There’s like almost a hundred month car loans that exist now.
So if we can get those interest rates down without being too inflationary, the markets and the economy should continue to respond positively.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. And, you know, even with all these positive numbers, I mean, I think job numbers have kind of, you know, I think the unemployment number has ticked up and consumer confidence, which I believe is a lagging indicator. So it hasn’t caught up with some of the newer economic numbers.
It’s still not where I think everyone wants it to be.
Jane King, Business Journalist
No, that’s one of the lagging things. Consumer confidence. I mean, those are the two things, like the debt and the consumer confidence.
They’re related to each other. Those are the things where we’re still not seeing on the markets. And there’s just there’s kind of interesting things going on, too, like gold and silver are at record highs.
I mean, what’s going on there? Now, silver does play a role in the buildout of A.I. Silver’s used in some of that construction. So but what is that telling us and who’s buying it?
And, you know, there’s just a lot of cross currents that are happening and the economy and then in some of these metals, I mean, metals have been hitting record highs. So, you know, it’s all very interesting and will be continued to be, I’m sure.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. Let me ask you about some sectors because you mentioned artificial intelligence. You and I have spoken about that over the past several years, how important that is for manufacturing here domestically and also internationally.
Are there other sectors that might, quote unquote, do well in 2026? You know, another one would be defense spending. I know we’re building a new class of Navy ships, perhaps.
But are there sectors that you see possibly really improving in 26?
Jane King, Business Journalist
Well, and also speaking of defense, I mean, some of these drone companies and space related companies seem to be positioned very well for where money is going, interest is going. I’m going to keep it on these weight loss drugs. We’re Novo Nordisk.
Their pill, their daily obesity pill versus an injection was approved by the FDA. Eli Lilly is expected to get approval very quickly as well. And people are very excited about a weight loss pill.
It’s easier to take. Someone’s tired of the injections, but they want to keep the weight loss. They can go to the pill.
So, you know, those are areas I’m going to be watching. I think banks are going to be very interesting as I do think interest rates are going to be, you know, a topic of conversation, certainly for the first quarter. So banks could benefit from that.
Banks could also benefit from the adoption of AI and also blockchain technology and some of the back office systems and ledger, you know, uses that. So there’s lots of interesting things to keep our eyes on. And of course, Jeffrey, there’s always the unexpected, like, I mean, who would have knew some of the things we were going to be seeing this year?
Caterpillar, best performing stock in the Dow, you know, very interesting. But it’s because of all the construction of these AI data centers, Caterpillar, you know, has that earthmoving equipment that they need. So, you know, there’s always surprises.
So it makes it interesting all the time.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. And those geopolitical tensions that you and I have talked about over the years, they still the Ukraine, the Middle East, and now Venezuela, Latin America seem to always creep up. Let’s shift gears.
I want to ask you about cryptocurrency. Bitcoin had a nice run in 2025. They’re not the only cryptocurrency.
What about cryptocurrency adoption? Are we going to see more or less? It’s kind of receded in the past several months.
Jane King, Business Journalist
Yeah. Well, there was that huge drop that we saw. I think it was October 10th.
And cryptocurrency, the stock market plummeted that day, too. Stock markets come back. Cryptocurrency still kind of stuck around $87,000, $88,000 or so.
But I do think especially Ethereum, like I’ve been hearing more talk about tokenization and tokenizing the stock market. In fact, I think, you know, the Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq have applied for license to be able to tokenize stocks. And that would all be based on the Ethereum network.
You can tokenize real estate. You can tokenize art, fine wine, and you can tokenize everything. The head of BlackRock, Larry Fink, wrote an article in The Economist about the tokenization of the economy.
So Ethereum will benefit from that. So I’m definitely going to keep an eye on that. And, you know, some of the like the meme coin Solana also will be one that would benefit from tokenization.
So that could be a theme next year.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. And I wonder if it’ll ever get to the broad based adoption that I know the cryptocurrency, I’m going to call manufacturers, want that more mainstream. It seems like it’s maybe stuck a little bit, but that technology, that tokenization, as you said, could really bring a lot of value to a lot of different industries, as you mentioned, banks, etc.
Jane King, Business Journalist
Oh, absolutely. And it could democratize investing as well. So say you want a little piece of a $3 million building, you don’t have $3 million to buy a building, but you can buy a piece of that building if it is tokenized and participate in the value increase of that building.
And so it could be really open up investing opportunities for many more people.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. Let’s talk about opening up. We’ve got a few minutes left, Jane.
I want to be conscious of your time because you have your own reports to do and you’re being very gracious with us. Let’s talk about private market investments. There’s been a talk about opening this up for more retail.
So we’re talking about hedge funds, private credit, private equity. How about that in 26? Am I going to be able to invest and where do you think that’s going to go?
Jane King, Business Journalist
I think so. I mean, there’s talk about 401k plans, being able to put some money into private. That’s where a lot of the wealth is made.
It is a bit more risky and it is certainly not as transparent as public companies. But if you’re young and to be able to put a portion in a company like OpenAI a few years ago or SpaceX a few years ago and participate in that private wealth growth before they go public and be able to get shares at that point, I mean, that could be a real game changer for people’s retirement plans. So I do hope that happens, particularly for younger Americans.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. Let’s shift gears. I want to ask you about taxes.
And then, you know, after January, that’s what a lot of people think about. April 15th, the one big beautiful bill was signed into law in 2025. There are some new tax reform changes that are happening.
What’s the impact there? What will be the impact on industry, on the private sector, on government, et cetera?
Jane King, Business Journalist
Yeah. Well, you know, one of the main things that I hear the president talk about and the treasury secretary is this $2,000 kind of tax rebate for people. So that would be nice.
Put some money back in people’s pockets to pay down debt, you know, referring to our earlier conversation or spend or, you know, whatever they need to. So that would, I mean, I think, you know, you and I have talked about this before where the government’s, you know, too big and wasteful. And it’d be nice to have that money go back to Americans to be able to spend as they wish.
So, yeah, I mean, I think you’re right. I mean, January, that’s when I start thinking about taxes. It’s never fun.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
No, it’s not fun. And I guess the question every American is probably asking is, are you getting your money’s worth for the taxes you pay? That’s probably the key question.
Let’s talk about the challenges for the U.S. consumer. Affordability was big in 2025. Gas prices have really come down during the holiday season, but maybe some groceries and some other key staples still up in cost.
You know, I don’t want to put you on the spot, but do you think that the affordability will come more in line to what Americans are expecting in 26?
Jane King, Business Journalist
Well, I think prices will come down just because there seems to be this kind of critical mass to make it so. Beef prices have been an issue. There’s been talk about exporting Mexican beef into the U.S. to try to get the beef prices down. They’re working on that situation. But housing is, you know, that was the sticky for the last two years. Housing prices month after month in the CPI would not go down.
We’ve seen them start to go down now. And that’s both rent. They call it shelter in the CPI.
So it’s both rent, housing, you know, buying a home. And if we can start to get that down and there’s a lot of politicians that are really working on getting rid of some of these burdensome regulations, particularly in blue states, that prevents, you know, building and things like that, that all should get the housing market back to be affordable for first time homebuyers again.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And Jane, let’s not let’s just wrap with health care. That was a big issue during the continuing resolution and funding the government. It looks like it’s going to continue to rear its head.
Health care affordability. I know I signed up for my ACA and my premiums went up like 250 bucks a month. That’s a lot of money for me.
I’m sure it’s a lot for other Americans as well.
Jane King, Business Journalist
Absolutely. I have ACA as well. So yeah, I mean, that’s another one of those things.
I think everybody in Washington knows that politically, this is just horrible for them. And they have to do something about this. So, you know, I, I hope they do.
Or else I think that, you know, a lot of people are going to get voted out of office.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, and rightfully so, in my opinion. Jane, always great to see you. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Enjoy 2026. And look, we look forward to having you back on the program anytime you want.
Jane King, Business Journalist
Awesome. Thanks so much, Jeffery.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And that wraps up this morning’s episode. But guess what? We’re backing in tomorrow for another great program.
Until then, I’m Jeff Snyder. Stay safe, keep on saving and don’t forget, roll with the changes.