INVESTMENT COMMENTARY – SECOND QUARTER, 2023

The Federal Reserve’s (Fed’s) policy to increase the federal funds rate from zero to over 5% has worked to reduce inflation. Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June of 2022. Since then, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has declined to 4.0% year over year according to the last reading as of May. While higher rates have slowed the economy, the broader economy has not entered a recession, nor does one appear imminent due to the strong job market...

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INVESTMENT COMMENTARY – FOURTH QUARTER, 2022

The markets closed the year down as most asset classes continued to perform poorly. For the year, the S&P 500 declined about 18%. The bond market also closed the year down (the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond index fell about 13%) as the Federal Reserve (Fed) raised interest rates and reduced its balance sheet (i.e., not reinvesting the proceeds of maturing securities)...

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