VPN - Speculative Unwind

• U.S. equity markets declined for the sixth-straight week after hotter-than-expected inflation reports failed to show significant signs of easing and kept the "pedal to the metal" for Fed monetary tightening.
• Flirting with "bear-market" territory before paring its declines later in the week, the S&P 500 declined another 2.3% on the week, but investors were "buying the dip" across bond markets.
• Strong earnings results, another wave of M&A news, and moderating yields weren't enough to snap the cold spell for real estate equities, which lagged for the third-straight week.
• Peak inflation? Not quite yet. Consumer prices rose at a hotter-than-expected pace in April but did ease slightly from the four-decade-high rate last month while consumer sentiment slumped to decade-lows.
• Bitcoin continued to deflate - slipping below $30,000 to extend its drawdown to over 50% - consistent with the broader exodus out of highly speculative asset classes including SPACs, NFTs, and other crypto-related tokens.

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