For those of you who hold IRAs, 401 Ks, 403B's, as well as stocks and mutual funds, this week was, well, let's just say - painful!
As I wrote last Sunday, I have long thought about offering my thoughts on the market. Over the last few weeks, I prayed whether I should, in fact, do so in a public forum. After much thought, it was put on my heart to do so.
I am not registered with any regulatory agency, nor will I be.
I am not managing your money. What you read in these updates is for you to make judgments from and act upon them or not.
As a stockbroker for many years, as well as being registered as a financial advisor, I followed the 'trend' of the market, and national and international events, and charted the various indexes and stocks with so much more analysis. Doing so allowed me to position my clients in such a way as to:
A) increase their investment portfolios
B) to retain what gains were made
C) to minimize losses
As I also wrote last week, I will make my opinions available free of charge until October 1st, 2022. I erred in stating my price last week (very sorry for the confusion this may have caused). The yearly fee for my analysis will be $250.00 (Two Hundred Fifty USD).
As we get closer to the date, I will provide more information as to how to enroll if you, or someone you know, so desire............
Last Sunday (8/21/22) I wrote:
"The S&P 500 closed at 4228 on Friday (8/19/22) and I see this going down. Ditto for the Dow Jones which closed on Friday (8/19/22) at 33,706.
Inflation is at 8.5% and everything is pointing to the major indexes falling soon, however, we'll see what happens this week to confirm this, but from what I see the rally has run its course.
So, it appears that the S&P 500, the DJIA, the Small Cap Markets, the Nasdaq, and the Gold markets are all poised to go lower. Perhaps significantly."
Friday (8/26/22) the S&P 500 closed at 4057 pts, down 171 pts from the previous week's closing.
The Dow Jones closed at 32,283 pts, down 1,423 pts from the previous week's closing.
Both indexes dropped a bit more than 4% for the week.
On Friday, Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Chairman made known the Fed's intention of being aggressive in its goal of bringing the inflation rate (Now at 8.5% approx) down to 2%.
"Reducing inflation is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth" stated Powell.
He went on to say, "While higher interest rates, slower growth, and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, THEY WILL ALSO BRING SOME PAIN TO HOUSEHOLDS AND BUSINESSES" (capital letters mine).
These are ominous words........
It appears another aggressive interest rate hike may happen in September.
Money market accounts are a safe haven in which to reallocate money while this trend stays in place.
The pain will continue in the banking, electronics, telecommunication, utilities, energy, consumer products, transportation, small-cap, gold, and international markets.
I see no reason to change my opinion: The trend of the market will continue downward...........
