9 of the Best Bond ETFs to Buy in 2023

With the stock market in such turmoil for such a long time now, bonds have become a safe haven. With that in mind, I submit today's issue of U.S. News Invested.  

Wall Street ends higher as investors eye upcoming jobs data

All the indexes started the day in the red, the Dow quite a lot in the red, and then all gained ground throughout the day to end on gains, the Dow being excepted going mildly into the black in the afternoon before sliding back into losses and then regaining ground just before close to break-even.  It was the same story as the last two days:  “The market is waffling between whether a softening labor market is good news because it gets the Fed to pause or bad news because it means a recession is actually coming.”  All eyes will be on the non-farm payrolls expected to show about 70,000 fewer jobs but is due on Friday when the markets will be closed for Good Friday.  Due to the holiday, volume was very light at just 9 billion. 

S&P 500 ends lower as recession fears take center stage

This was one of those rare days where none of the indexes followed the same pattern. The Dow was up and down all day but closed up.  The Nasdaq was pretty much down for the count right out the gate, and stayed that way while the S&P took a dive right out the gate but then reversed course right around noon to close near break-even. But sentiment was the same as yesterday. Whereas weak data has been considered a good sign of weakening inflation, today again it also triggered recession fears, especially with today’s second report of weak hiring. But there was at least acknowledgment as stated by today’s expert, “We may have transitioned from the notion that ‘bad news is good news’ to ‘bad news is bad news.’”  Remarkably, the oddsmakers now suddenly put yesterday’s 42 vs 58% in favor of a pause to today’s 40 vs 60 in favor of an actual cut.  Volume remains light at 10.1 billion. 

Wall Street ends down as weak economic data fuels recession fears

Today was another case of the markets not quite able to decide what they want. On the one hand, we’ve been waiting a long time for the economy to cool off hoping that will reassure the Fed that inflation is coming down and will pause the rate hikes and avert recession. Today there was nothing but good news on that front, cooling data actually flipping the oddsmakers now with ¼ point vs no hike at a remarkable 42 vs 58%.  But today investors feared that the cooling economy may itself trigger recession and thus all the indexes went south almost immediately, the Dow down 198 points.  Yesterday, weakening manufacturing was good news; today combined with decreasing job openings, it’s bad news.  Volume remains light at 10.3 billion. 

S&P 500 ends higher as oil stocks rally; Tesla tumbles

It was a volatile session for the S&P and Nasdaq with the S&P back and forth between black and red a few times and the Nasdaq sinking big time after 10 a.m. and staying down until 2 pm before recovering to a modest 32 point loss.  The Dow fared much better, always in the black but sinking a little mid-morning before going into an all-afternoon rally.  Energy stocks provided the rallies as OPEC+ cut output unexpectedly, but of course this also triggered more inflation worries.  These worries were however placated by a drop in manufacturing.  Odds for ¼ point vs no rate hike are today at 56/44, up from 50/50 on Friday. Despite the day’s results, the S&P is up 7% for Q1, the Nasdaq 17%.  Volume was light at 10.9 billion. 

10 Best Energy Stocks to Buy in 2023

The energy sector being such a major part of the index, this week's issue of U.S. News Invested seemed particularly relevant.  Hope everyone had a nice weekend.  

Continued Market Volatility Benefits Those With Cash

For your weekend pleasure, more market ideas courtesy of this week's AAII.