The market has been weird lately, there’s no denying it, but don’t replace the word ”weird” with “bad” (they’re not the same thing, the market gets weird from time to time and it’s ok). We’ve seen some selling the last few weeks, the market is digesting a lot. It looks like there is positive movement on the debt ceiling debate, which is easing investors’ minds as the week ends.
Clearly investors are confused and concerned about many things right now. The economy seems to be fine, and corporations are doing fine, and generally things like employment, housing and the pandemic are continuing to slowly improve. It’s the recent news on inflation, energy crunch, the debt ceiling, the $3.5 trillion proposed government spending plan and gridlock in Washington, among other things, that all have investors on edge. We’re getting more calls from clients asking questions about inflation, safety, government shutdown and tax increases. There’s a lot to process right now, and the media is certainly amplifying these news items. It’s sometimes hard to resist the urge to do “something” about it, and any changes need to be well thought out. All this is simply the news of the day, it is important news, but we can’t let it derail our investment and life plans. Many economists’ targets are still calling for the stock market to be higher by the end of the year, sometimes we need to be reminded to be patient with it, especially in August, September and October (the worst three months on average for the markets).
Encouragingly, stock buyers have been present the entire time and taking advantage of the depressed stock prices. Michael Gibbs is watching the low from September 20th of 4305 to hold on the S&P 500 to see if buyers continue come in at that level. If it is breached then 4233 is the next level of support. All normal stuff.
This week, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell commented that current inflationary pressures will likely be with us as we start 2022. He reiterated his stance that significant portions of this inflation will ease as supply chain shortages begin to improve and inventories are replenished. He did mention that material shortages and supply chain issues are not clearing up as fast as he would have hoped. This says to us that the inflation narrative will be with us for a while yet (months).
Thank you for your continued trust and for listening to us. Have a great weekend!
Sincerely: DeHaven, Michael, Janet, Mariah and Tamara.