EFIV News and Press, SPDR S&P 500 ESG From 02/03/23

Summary The jobs data surprised to the upside. The ISM data surprised to the upside. The stock market appears to be grossly mispriced relative to rates. The most stunning part of the FOMC press conference on Wednesday wasn't at the beginning or the middle. It came at the e...

Summary The Federal Reserve continues its quantitative tightening, and it keeps the pliers tight around the monetary facet. The Fed's securities portfolio continues to decline. The M2 money stock has now been in decline for about ten months. These data all seem to point toward a...

Summary Jobless claims continue to impress with the latest reading on seasonally adjusted initial claims dropping to 183K which is the lowest level since April 2022. While NSA claims were lower this week, it was not by much with the reading falling from 225.23K to just 224.36K. As f...

Summary When it comes to the merits of a balanced portfolio, investors may find themselves caught up in the inertia of the masses, with most asset classes suffering negative returns in 2022. While equity and fixed markets have broadly rebounded to start 2023, this does not necessarily m...

Summary January’s US index returns represented a complete inversion of 2022’s performance. International markets also started out the year with a strong rally - outperforming the S&P 500. The yield curve became more inverted in January, signaling potentially reduce...

Summary The leading indicators related to the labor market are deteriorating, signaling an imminent recession. Wage growth remains the key inflationary data point to follow. The stock market is not priced for the likely recession. An imminent recession The record inver...

Summary The Fed raised rates by 0.25% annually at its meeting this week and indicated that further rate increases will be appropriate. But when the first question in the press conference (to paraphrase) was whether Powell was concerned whether the huge rally this year would fuel more in...

Summary The statement of the Federal Open Market Committee concerning the recent 25 basis point rise in the Fed's policy rate of interest was received fairly well in the financial markets. Still the main policy thrust by the Fed is the reduction of its securities portfolio through the p...

Summary The latest release of the Employment Cost Index shows decelerating wage pressures, particularly in sectors that were expected to cause ongoing problems. It is now obvious that there will be no wage-price spiral, which switches investor attention from inflation to the strength of...

Summary The dividend outlook for the S&P 500 in 2023 continued to improve. The dividend outlook in 2023 has continued to improve over the last two weeks. The Federal Funds Rate is also currently projected to top out on or by the conclusion of the Fed's March 2023 meeting. ...