Financial Insight

Stock market speculators and other “hot money” investors were unhappy last week and stocks dropped sharply but the economic news gave long-term investors plenty to smile about.

Economic data released this week gave investors something to smile about, but stocks still dropped sharply.

Economic data released this week was great:

• Retail sales dropped slightly in May but remains astronomically high. 
• Housing starts in May were up slightly in May and for six months have been hovering around the strongest level in nearly 5 years.
• The U.S. Index of Leading Economic Indicators are at an all-time high.     

Despite the strong economic news, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index lost 1.9% this past week.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index closed today at 4,166.45, a loss of -1.31% from Thursday, and down -1.92% from last Friday’s all-time high closing price. The index is up +60.24% from the March 23rd bear market low.

As reported in last week’s update, inflation fears are preoccupying investor sentiment.  With the Federal Reserve Bank hiking its forecast for inflation this past week and saying it expects to raise interest rates twice in 2022, inflation is causing investment market volatility.  While the Fed could make a mistake and cause a recession, it’s telegraphing its monetary policy moves months in advance, which is reassuring to permanent investors.   

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