Monthly Investment Updates

Minutes of the January 31 – February 1 Fed meeting reflected expectations that the Fed would keep rates high for the remainder of 2023.

The markets breathed a sigh of relief in January. After finishing a difficult 2022 they launched into the new year on hopes for a “goldilocks” economy – not too hot, not too cold.

A month – and year – to forget
Sometimes we ignore the most important things. We are in a similar period in the financial markets.

The market touched a new low in October and produced a strong rally for the rest of the month, and this positive performance continued throughout November.

There were a host of worries this October that might have kept us from following the yellow brick road to financial prosperity.

Investors would have done well to follow this advice in August as Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Chair, dominated the economic narrative and the movement of the markets.

The old investing adage, “don’t fight the Fed”, was in full force in August.

Alfred Kahn, President Jimmy Carter’s “Inflation Czar”, uttered this phrase in 1978 after he infuriated the president by pointing out the possibility of a recession.

Markets marched expeditiously higher in July as investor optimism increased on signs that inflation may be softening.

US stocks, as measured by the S&P 500 index, reached an all-time high in late December of 2021.