From the Trading Desk: New Year, New Decade? 

With just under two weeks left in 2022, investors are evaluating where they stand and making decisions for how to approach the new year. 2022 marked the beginning of tightening monetary policy by the Federal Reserve to tame elevated inflation. After maintaining near zero interest rates to boost the economy during the Covid pandemic, the Read More

From the Trading Desk: New Bull or Hopeful Bounce? 

As mentioned in the last post, volatility across markets appears here to stay. The days of buying and holding an index might be long gone. Shareholders of the popular tech companies will not likely see anywhere near the gains that we saw in the last cycle. The S&P 500 Index reached a new low for Read More

From the Trading Desk: Are Markets Broken?

Last week, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed the Fed’s commitment to reducing inflation no matter the short-term cost to the economy. More aggressive interest rake hikes now appear to be on the table and unsurprisingly stocks sold off sharply in response. The S&P 500 Index erased August’s gains and finished the month down Read More

From the Trading Desk: The Next Market Catalyst

Last week the S&P 500 Index experienced its 7th consecutive weekly decline while the list of companies reporting weaker Q2 forecasts keeps growing. Big retailers such as Walmart and Target slumped after cutting outlooks amid inflation pressure on future profits. As I write this, retailers have recovered some losses after Macy’s and Dollar Tree raised their Read More

From the Trading Desk: Inflation is Here to Stay

April commenced with fresh data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the CPI (consumer price index) rose 8.5% year over year last month compared to March of 2021, a level that marks the fastest increase since December 1981. Fed officials discussed acting more aggressively to combat rising inflation, even suggesting various policymakers “would Read More