QQXT News and Press, First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Tech Sector Index Fd From 02/27/23

Summary Since late 2022, the stock market pundits have been obsessed with a “soft landing”. The Fed is looking at the inflation figures coming in and they will need to keep interest rates higher for longer. The bond market has also been signaling that rates are headed high...

Summary New unemployment insurance claims have stabilized at a pace close to 200,000 per week. During the pandemic, consumption spending had outsized growth due to massive fiscal stimulus. The Fed raised rates and the yield curve inverted – an indicator of a potential future ...

Summary Economically speaking, bullish bets are mounting on a “no landing” scenario, which suggests the economy will avoid a recession entirely. Fed Funds futures are now pricing in a 21% chance the Fed will hike rates by 0.50% at the March meeting. The eventual revers...

Summary Many analysts suggest the economy may have a soft landing, or, rather, avoid a recession. While those employment reports remain strong, the rapid decline in growth has been a recession signal in and of itself. As we have stated earlier, the trend of the data is far more importan...

Summary When the market peaked in January 2022, everyone was exceedingly bullish, and no one was looking for a 20% decline. Retail investors have sharply increased their equity allocations over the last couple of months, dropping their cash holdings sharply. From a contrarian viewpo...

Summary AIER’s Everyday Price rose 0.93 percent in January, following a decline of 1.3 percent in December 2022. On Friday, February 10, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics updated the weights of the consumer price index constituents to reflect changes in consumption activity. ...

Summary Inflation was hot in January. This is putting the Fed on a path to raise rates well above 5% in 2023. The equity market appears to have wrong on disinflation. To no surprise, CPI proved to be hot in January on a month-over-month basis, rising by 0.5%, in line with expe...

Summary America and the world keep dodging recessions, like they did last year. The IMF just raised its 2023 global growth rate projection to 2.9% (from 2.7% last October), and they raised their U.S. GDP projection from +1.0% to +1.4% now. A 1.4% growth rate is not very exciting, but it...

Summary While the rest of America was gearing up for the Super Bowl Sunday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised Q4 inflation numbers higher on Friday. This is actually huge news. Preprogrammed algos bought billions in stock off of November and December CPI off of faulty assumptio...

Summary Has recent strong data changed the fundamental economic and market outlook, or just the timeline? A stronger January than December should not come as a surprise, given the diminished China- and energy-related headwinds the global economy now faces. We also know that monetary...