Small Businesses are highly unconfident… yet, bearish sentiment is nearly nonexistent.
Small Businesses are highly unconfident… yet, bearish sentiment is nearly nonexistent. Read More »
Rate Cut
“Neither a state nor a bank ever [has] had the unrestricted power of issuing paper money without abusing that power.”
Stocks rallied smartly last week. The Dow was up 2.6%, The S&P 500 rallied 4.0%, and the Nasdaq jumped 6.0%.
Growth stocks outpaced value shares by a wide margin. The big-cap mega-scalers led the rally, and the poster child for the AI revolution was the clear winner as
Don’t get too excited, though; the broad market (S&P 500) remains within its range since April. The S&P 500 is marginally
(-0.50%) below, the Nasdaq is -5% below, and the Dow is -17.56% below all-time highs. Markets are skittish and fearful of change.
“Bringing inflation down to the Fed’s 2% goal while maintaining a healthy labor market is the number…”
The rising sentiment towards a Fed rate cut seems premature—even for September 18th. Financial conditions are easier than they have been in two years. The S&P 500 is still up by 14.5% for the year (just below the Nasdaq’s 2024 return of 15.6%), but it sure doesn’t feel like it, even though it remains well above average returns over the last 15 years.