"The Magnificent 7" and Makings for an Interest Rate Turnaround
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Enhancing Online Security – Guidance From StrongBox Wealth During Cybersecurity Awareness Month
In a nice reversal from last year’s market performance when the S&P 500 Price index was down more than 19% and the bond market had its worst year on record, the S&P 500 posted a 7% gain in the first quarter of 2023 while the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index gained 2.5%.
Against a backdrop of tightening monetary policy, heightened geopolitical tensions, weakening economic data, fatigued business and consumer confidence, atypical currency movements, an overall risk-off atmosphere for stocks through the first three quarters of this year, and U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday, November 8th, investors should prepare for further volatility over the remaining months of this year.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines turbulent as “characterized by conflict, disorder, or confusion; not controlled by calm.” There seems no better description of the first half to 2022 given the crosscurrent of interrelated issues including economic uncertainty, persistent inflation build, Federal Reserve monetary policy, and strife in Ukraine.
With the unfolding Russia/Ukraine war, commencement of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s long expected monetary policy change to hike overnight interest rates, widespread concerns over shortage-induced price increases for energy and food, and further COVID-related lockdowns in China, these conditions have produced a high degree of uncertainty to start 2022 and have caused material adverse financial market conditions along with elevated price volatility.
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From one of the strongest economies the U.S. has ever seen, to shuttered doors across the country resulting in the…
Due to a combination of recent Congressional acts, there are ample reasons to consider converting all or a portion of…