Global Events Darken First-Quarter Economics

May 1, 2022

For the first time during the last few years, the Covid-19 pandemic is no longer the biggest global news story at quarter end. Unfortunately, the pandemic has now been supplanted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. As of April 1, Reuters estimates that there have been at least 24,000 total deaths, $565 billion in property damage and over 10 million people displaced.

In terms of direct economic impact on the United States, the war has exacerbated the inflationary pressure that we already had been seeing for the past few months. In turn, this has led to strong language out of the Fed about raising short-term interest rates to combat it — and ultimately to a significant selloff in the bond market during the last few weeks as bond holders look to get ahead of those upcoming rate increases.

Read the full report >

 

More About Economic Updates
Despite initial predictions of a slowdown, the U.S. economy showed resilience through strong consumer spending and business investment. With the stock market rallying and inflation nearing the Fed’s target, find out what’s driving the third quarter market and beyond.
Economic predictions heading into Q4 were frosty, but 2023 ended much better than expected. Many factors threatened economic health such as the war in Ukraine and interest rates. Read more about how the market fared and what that means for the coming year.
Despite things pointing to more of a downer, Q3 turned out better than expected. See what factors played to a stronger third quarter.
As the economy finds its footing, inflation begins to slow and the job market remains strong, things are looking up. However, many factors are in play for Q3 and Q4.
Let’s review the events of 2022 and how they’ve led to our current state of continuing market volatility and stubborn inflation. Even so, we still believe in the stock market over the long run.
Markets were volatile in the third quarter as investors tried to guess how the Fed would act to address inflation. While the current choppiness may continue in the near future, we still believe in the market over the long run.
The second quarter saw unrelenting inflation and a volatile stock market. Not all economic indicators were negative, however. Job growth remains strong, unemployment is down and business sentiment remains optimistic.