ClientFirst Financial Strategies
Financial Planning and Portfolio Management
There is an age-old adage that Dr. Marty Zweig coined. Whether interest rates are going up or down, “don’t fight the Fed”! For the past 40 years, interest rates primarily went down and stayed there. Recently, as we all know, interest rates have begun to rise.
The US stock market indices must have had a nice 4th of July cause all three posted gains for the four-day trading week.
Finally, after enduring downdrafts the past 10-11 weeks, we experienced positive returns from all three major US stock market indices. Although it may be an aberration in a bear stock market, it still feels good.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have suffered losses 10 of the past 11 weeks while the DJIA has now been down 11 of past 12 weeks. Last week was the worst carnage since March 2020.
Everything is going up in price—gas, food, shipping, apparel, etc.—except the US stock market.
Well, the euphoria of gains in the last trading week of May wore off quickly! June kickstarted with negative returns (i.e., DJIA: -1.05%, S&P 500: -1.63%, Nasdaq: -2.47%).
It was another difficult week for the major US stock market indices (i.e., DJIA: -2.91%, S&P 500: -3.04%, Nasdaq: -3.82%). Make that 8 weeks in a row of drawdowns for the DJIA and 7 straight for the S&P 500.
It seems like “Groundhog Week,” so to speak. All three major US stock market indices posted losses again (i.e., DJIA: -2.14%, S&P 500: -2.41%, Nasdaq: -2.80%). Yes, this movie is getting old.
If you look at the theory of relativity, then last week wasn’t so bad! Yes, all three of the major US stock market indices were down (i.e., DJIA: -0.20%, S&P 500: -0.20%, Nasdaq: -1.54%). However, on a relative basis, it wasn’t as bad as the past several weeks!
This past week was a doozy with all three major US stock market indices closing down (i.e., DJIA: -2.46%, S&P 500: -3.28%, Nasdaq: -3.93%). In fact, the month of April posted its worst showing for the S&P 500 since March 2020 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq since October 2008!