May 2022

  Well, here we go again. Morningstar market index, it's down a year to date -17.7%. Are we in yet another bear market? With the S&P 500 down over 16% and other indices looking even worse, what does this mean? Well, there's a lot of pressure on all markets. Interest rate hikes are necessary to fight inflation. Inflation is at 8%, maybe higher. We have what's called an inverted yield curve. It's a strong leading indicator of recession. There's a war in the Ukraine and it's having severe impacts on the energy markets, which is further feeding inflation. And then we have corona lockdowns in China, which may not seem to be relevant, but they're having a significant impact on supply chains over and above the regular transit challenges that exist. The probability of a recession in the next six to 18 months is extremely high. The Fed will do...

  With the Fed about to raise interest rates, where do we go from here? Last week saw significant volatility in the equity markets and the Fed has told us this week to expect up to a 0.5% bump in interest rates. Are we seeing a correction? GDP contracted last quarter by 1.4%. The Fed's quantitative easing is coming to a slow end, and we now have increased interest rates baked into the cake. Could any or all of this drive us into a recession? Higher interest rates, inflation, recession. This begins to sound like the stagflation of the 1970s. If so, it's going to be a paired down version. That was pretty awful. What we have today is quite different. We have supply and labor shortages. This implies a new higher base rate for inflation in the decade to come. But when I say a higher base rate, I...