Investors Have More Reasons To Sell

Investors Have More Reasons To Sell

December's sharp increase in stock market volatility favored even more in 2022 but it reached new extremes last week. The decline on Monday of almost 3% led to more selling on Tuesday but then surprisingly the S&P rose 2. 57% on Wednesday. Hopes for even more gains did not last as stocks were lower the rest of the week as the latest CPI report did not help. It has been a rough two months for investors as things have only gotten worse in March. The sort of bidding war on how many rate hikes it would take to corral inflation started in December when some were looking for three hikes in 2022. By January Goldman Sachs was looking for four rate hikes with Bank of America looking for seven in early February. Later in February JPMorgan raised the bid to nine rate hikes by March 2023. This was all before the sharp spike in crude oil prices and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These events have slowed down the rate hike bidding war which I feel did a disservice to many investors. Do I think eight or nine hikes is likely? No, but in analyzing the economy and stock market one