RZG News and Press, Invesco S&P Smallcap 600 Pure Growth From 02/04/23

Summary The first employment report of 2023 certainly surprised everybody. Friday morning’s report was the tenth straight better-than-expected report, which is a record and easily surpasses the prior peaks in September 2020 and March 2015. The US economy has added 4.967 milli...

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 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 As economies both in the United States and globally weaken with tighter monetary policies, corporate earnings are coming under greater pressure. Without exception, in the 24 months prior to a recession, large caps outperformed small caps. Higher-quality investments did not m...

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 Too many people still think that the Federal Reserve needs to continue aggressively raising rates. There's no need for aggressive hikes. Surprising the market with larger hikes would be extremely foolish and reduce the Federal Reserve's credibility. The market started ...

Summary Most of the monthly short leading indicators have turned down; all but one of those which remain positive are employment-related. All of those will be updated this week, including 3 in the jobs report on Friday. Along with construction, manufacturing, and short-term unemploy...

Summary Better days are ahead for the markets in 2023, although not necessarily for the economy. The economy has not yet felt the full brunt of all of the Federal Reserve's aggressive tightening measures of 2022. Interest rates are likely to rise slightly higher, remain elevated, an...

Summary The Fed to signal an end to the interest rate hiking campaign. The economy could be in a recession already for 2023 Q1. The stock market is now more overvalued than in January of 2022. Market expectations vs the Fed's guidance The FOMC is scheduled to meet for ...