ClientFirst Financial Strategies
Financial Planning and Portfolio Management
1Q2023 ended with a bang as the major US stock market indices were up across the board. Lately, much of the US stock market is focusing on the Federal Reserve and Chairman Powell’s next policy meeting occurring May 2-3. While this is unquestionably important, there are many other things that matter when determining the market’s ultimate path.
If Meghan Trainor were a financier, she may consider reprising her 2014 hit song as “all about those banks!” Yet all three of the major US stock market indices shrugged off the woes of Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic, Signature and Credit Suisse to post gains this week.
You never would have guessed that two of the three major US stock market indices would post gains this past week with what occurred in Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and the broader banking sector! Mega-cap tech names like Microsoft, Apple, and Google led the charge as a flight to safety trade.
All three major US stock market indices had a rocky ride to the downside this past week, especially on Friday. You may have heard that Silicon Valley Bank announced its failure on Friday, making it the second largest bank in US history (behind 2008’s Washington Mutual) to fail.
The US stock market finally broke the losing streak with all three major indices in the green this past week. The economy and sales growth for corporations still appear to be slowing as interest rates continue to rise.
US stock market indices incurred another down week, making it the third weekly loss for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq and the fourth for the DJIA. As stated in our previous Weekly H&Cs, the labor market remains strong, forcing the Federal Reserve to combat what appears to be 1970’s-like wage-push inflation.
All three of the major US stock market indices were in the red zone this week. We wonder which team will dominate there today in the Super Bowl!
Are we talking about interest rates or the US stock market? It’s both, in fact.
So far, so good! Or is it too good to be true? Right now, the S&P 500 is trading at a lofty 17.9x 2023’s expected earnings even though quite a few companies are projecting lower future earnings.
US stock market indices had mixed results during the shortened trading week. The economic theme du jour now features the debt ceiling, which the US hit this past Thursday.