Wall Street ends down for third day as growth concerns weigh on tech

The Dow spent almost all day up to 200 points in the red until rallying at 2 pm to go ever so slightly in the black before falling again in the last ten minutes to close 107 down. So it’s the third straight session of closing in the red but at least the losses are getting smaller and smaller so maybe the hysteria is settling down. As could be expected, the tech sector took the biggest hit as it always does after a rate hike given that interest rates so strongly impact their bottom lines. Q3 earnings are now projected for 5% growth (excluding energy -1.7%) and forward P/E at 16.8x compared to 22x back in January. The S&P has now fallen 21.2% this year, the tech sector within it 28. But just a reminder that for several years now the earnings forecast each quarter has consistently been considerably more pessimistic than what the actuals turned out to be. So anything can still happen.  Volume was again above average at 11.4 billion. 

Wall Street slumps as investors absorb hawkish Fed rate message

All the indexes were up all day long, the Dow up almost 200 points until 3 pm and then everything went south in a big way and in a hurry with the Dow losing a whopping 750 points in the final hour to close down 522 points.  So was all the prognostication about the ¾ point rate hike already fully priced in completely wrong? Or was it that, though the markets were prepared for continued hawkishness, it wasn’t prepared for today’s remarks being so very hawkish. As today’s expert put it, “Powell delivered a sobering message that achieving a soft landing was always difficult.” Without having the actual text of his remarks, I can’t say whether this was his actual message or whether the gurus are just being overly pessimistic. 

Wall Street falls as Fed, Ford forecasts, give fright

It was another red-letter day.  These past few days there have been four very dour forecasts regarding economic slowdown and coming global recession and today the market got hit with a fifth, this time from Ford.  So the indexes plunged again, the Dow 550 points down as late as 2 pm before another rally brought it up to a minus 313 by close.  Today the 10-year Treasury reached an 11 year high and the yield curve inverted further. As today’s expert noted, “There are a lot of headwinds to prevent sustained rallies.” Of particular interest regarding tomorrow’s Fed announcement and the expected rate hike is cues on endpoints for rates and the outlooks for unemployment, inflation and economic growth.”  On the eve of the Fed meeting, volume remains thin at 9.9 billion. 

Wall Street ends choppy session higher with focus firmly on Fed

Until about 3 pm the three indexes straddled the line between modest gains and modest losses and then zooming at 3 pm for the Dow to close nearly 200 points up.  The indecision that apparently was dominating sentiment until 3 pm was likely investors sitting on the fence awaiting Wednesday’s Fed rate hike vs a whole slew of recent bad news including Ukraine, earnings, CPI, a very dire outlook from FedEx, another dour outlook from the World Bank and IMF and today Goldman Sachs throwing its two cents in the mix with another dour forecast, the inverted yield curve and, of course, the Fed and more rate hikes. 

New Inflation Era

Some more discussion on inflation, this time from Wall Street guru James Grant in his interview with Consuelo Mack on this week's edition of the PBS program WealthTrack.  Hope everyone had a nice weekend.  

9 Dividend Aristocrat Stocks to Buy Now

Back on the subject of dividend stocks for those who prefer to diversify their portfolios for income, here are the latest recommendations from U.S. News Invested.  

Wall St drops to two-month lows as recession fears mount

It’s been risk-off ever since the shocking CPI report on Tuesday and today was more of the same with the Dow down some 400 points for much of the day to finally rally after 2 pm to close 139 down. The sentiment boiled over today with yesterday’s late bad news from FedEx followed by the dour forecasts from both the World Bank and the IMF.  But the ray of hope today came from David Carter of JP Morgan in his comments, “The Fed is doing what it needs to do. And after some pain, markets and the economy will heal themselves.”  Here’s hoping. Volume was huge at nearly 17 billion but today was the monthly expiration of options which always greatly exaggerates volume so we have to wait until Monday to get good numbers.