A financial forecast for 2024

+ should you do cardio or weights first? US Edition - Today's top story: Economic lookahead: As we ring in 2024, can the US economy continue to avoid a recession? [View in browser]( US Edition | 3 January 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [Nature’s engineering marvel: Coast redwoods]( - [Making sense of Israel’s big Supreme Court decision]( - [Buddhahood transcends gender]( Lead story Time is rarely kind to fortunetellers. Consider that at this time last year, most economists − and nearly the entire business press − saw doom on the horizon. “Everyone thinks a recession is coming in 2023,” one CNBC headline blared. A recession is “all but inevitable,” Time reported. “Only when growth truly goes negative will America be able to contain its rampant price pressures,” the Economist darkly warned. And then, as the months passed, the economy kept chugging along − and the “inevitable” kept receding into the distance. The recession is “now expected to arrive later than predicted,” according to an AP headline from February. A downturn is “100% inevitable,” USA Today forecast in July. It’s “coming soon,” Bloomberg said in October. 

 And yet it’s 2024, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently reached a record high, unemployment remains low, and consumers keep opening their wallets. So maybe the economics profession could use a dose of intellectual humility in the coming year. On the other hand, forecasting is fun − and some people are even good at it. One of the few to get it right last year was finance professor D. Brian Blank of Mississippi State University. In [a year-ahead forecast for The Conversation](, Blank predicted the labor market and consumer spending would remain buoyant. He’s back, along with Appalachian State University finance professor Brandy Hadley, to discuss [what 2024 has in store]( for inflation, incomes, interest rates − and, most importantly, your wallet. Will events vindicate them? Watch this space in January 2025. [ [Science from the scientists themselves. Sign up for our weekly science email newsletter.]( ] Tracy Walsh Economy + Business Editor Good things are in store in 2024. Sakorn Sukkasemsakorn/iStock/Getty Images Plus [Economic lookahead: As we ring in 2024, can the US economy continue to avoid a recession?]( D. Brian Blank, Mississippi State University; Brandy Hadley, Appalachian State University And will the vibecession ever end? Economy + Business - [Workers in their teens and early 20s are more likely to get hurt than older employees]( Diane Rohlman, University of Iowa Better training and supervision make younger workers less vulnerable to injuries. Science + Technology - [Cardio or weights first? A kinesiologist explains how to optimize the order of your exercise routine]( Randal Claytor, Miami University How to structure your workout − resistance then aerobic training or vice versa − depends on your exercise goals. - [From the Moon’s south pole to an ice-covered ocean world, several exciting space missions are slated for launch in 2024]( Ali M. Bramson, Purdue University Expect lots of space missions to launch this coming year, with exciting new science to follow. - [Radiation therapy takes advantage of cancer’s poor DNA repair abilities – an oncologist and physicist explain how]( Behzad Ebrahimi, University of Chicago; Mark Korpics, University of Chicago Radiotherapy takes many forms: from directing powerful high-energy beams toward specific areas of the body to placing radioactive seeds right next to tumors. - [AI is here – and everywhere: 3 AI researchers look to the challenges ahead in 2024]( Anjana Susarla, Michigan State University; Casey Fiesler, University of Colorado Boulder; Kentaro Toyama, University of Michigan Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and the tech industry is racing along to develop ever more powerful AIs. Three scholars look ahead to the next chapter in this technological revolution. Politics + Society - [Israel’s highest court protects its power to curb government extremism − 3 essential reads]( Naomi Schalit, The Conversation Israel’s highest court has struck down the government’s law limiting its power. Three scholars look at why the law was proposed, what it aimed to do and who supported – and opposed – it. Health + Medicine - [California banned sales of flavored e-cigarettes in 2022 − but a new study finds online stores are still selling them, even to kids]( Jon-Patrick Allem, Rutgers University The study suggests that online sales to kids went unchanged in the months after the law went into effect. Ethics + Religion - [How religion and politics will mix in 2024 – three trends to track]( Tobin Miller Shearer, University of Montana The 2024 elections may see a more intense end-times rhetoric, claims of divine support and a failure to condemn the rise in Christian nationalism, writes a religion scholar. - [The Lotus Sutra − an ancient Buddhist scripture from the 3rd century − continues to have relevance today]( Megan Bryson, University of Tennessee For many Buddhists today, both in East Asia and across the world, the Lotus Sutra offers religious support for various gender identities. Environment + Energy - [Coast redwood trees are enduring, adaptable marvels in a warming world]( Daniel Lewis, California Institute of Technology Redwoods grow in networks that house unique communities of plants and animals high in the air. They offer life lessons about adapting over time. Trending on site - [If humans went extinct, what would the Earth look like one year later?]( - [Fiber is your body’s natural guide to weight management – rather than cutting carbs out of your diet, eat them in their original fiber packaging instead]( - [What Socrates’ ‘know nothing’ wisdom can teach a polarized America]( Today's graphic 📈 [The number of U.S. workers who take part in strikes in a year varies greatly while generally following broader trends. The totals for strikers starting in the early 1980s were sharply lower than any time since the Great Depression. But the number of strikers in 2023 was the highest in 40 years.]( From the story, [2023’s historic Hollywood and UAW strikes aren’t labor’s whole story – the total number of Americans walking off the job remained relatively low]( - - More of The Conversation Like this newsletter? 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