The S&P 500 is having its worst start to a year since 1939.  Almost all major sectors are sitting on year-to-date losses.  Fixed income, the traditional ballast of a diversified portfolio, is also off to a historically rough start for the year, the worst since 1842.  Treasuries, corporate bonds, and municipals have all declined this year.  Holding cash carries its own risk with inflation sitting at multi-decade highs. 

Market Memo

February 2022 – Dan Zalipski, CFA®

The markets have been volatile in the past several weeks.  The timetable for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates continues to compress as the threat of inflation persists.  As recently as September, the Fed was indicating they wouldn’t raise rates until 2023.  Five months later, and Fed officials are openly suggesting we may see a 0.50% hike as soon as March.  In a market where quarter-point hikes are considered standard, a half-point hike would suggest the Fed waited too long to make their initial move and are now attempting to play catch-up.  Unfortunately, the Fed’s attempt to provide some relief to main street will likely cause some pain for Wall Street. 

Market Minute

February 2022 – By Bob Veres

In U.S. stock market history, bear markets—defined as a drop of 20% or more for a broad market index—happen roughly every four years and eight months. With a couple of recent down days in the markets, we may be in the early stages of a new one.

Market Minute

January 2022 – By Bob Veres

You might be reading about the internal debate at the Federal Reserve Board about when and how to ‘shrink its balance sheet,’ which will (articles tell us) have some mysteriously negative impact on the U.S. investment markets.  But what are they actually talking about?