As we bid farewell to the third quarter of 2023, it’s time to reflect on the market’s performance and prepare for what lies ahead in the final stretch of the year.
The Nasdaq 5HANDL Index was up 7.3% through the end of August, versus returns of 8.3% and 10.8% for the Nasdaq 7 HANDL Index and Nasdaq 10 HANDL Index, respectively.
Equity categories that make up the Nasdaq Dorsey Wright Explore portion of HANDLS Indexes generally outperformed the fixed-income categories, with MLPs leading the way with a 6.4% return for the month.
Today's much anticipated release of economic data including the Employment Cost Index (ECI) and the Fed's preferred inflation measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) all painted the picture of a goldilocks scenario. Inflation is abating, wages and labor market conditions are cooling, while the economy continues to grow, and spending remains resilient.
Markets were a mixed bag in June. Optimism about the Federal Reserve ending or at least slowing its rate-rising program pushed up the equity markets, with the Large Cap Core Equity category delivering a 6.4% return for the month. Nevertheless, inflation remained persistent, albeit at a lower annualized rate, and the Core Fixed Income category responded with a -0.3% return in June.
Markets were a mixed bag in June. Optimism about the Federal Reserve ending or at least slowing its rate-rising program pushed up the equity markets, with the Large Cap Core Equity category delivering a 6.4% return for the month. Nevertheless, inflation remained persistent, albeit at a lower annualized rate, and the Core Fixed Income category responded with a -0.3% return in June.
David Cohen, Co-Founder of the HANDLS Indexes, two of which are generally correlated with two ETFs from Strategy Shares, recently joined Brad Roth on the "Behind the Ticker" podcast.
In my opinion, true active strategies have a very important role in portfolios as complements to passive, cheap beta. Advisors need to understand what they own.
October was marked by continued volatility across fixed income and equity markets as investors faced various challenges, including persistent inflation concerns, rising yields, tightening monetary policy, and the backdrop of a U.S. Presidential election.
As an investor, it’s nice to know what we should expect from President Trump, because we have seen the movie before in 2017 – 2021. Apart from the early part of the Pandemic period, the economy and stock markets generally performed well.
Remember, our investment in stocks is a De facto vote of confidence on the economies in which we invest. Earnings, revenue, margins, free cash flow, and the growth of these important metrics is what drives stocks up or down over time.
The discretionary sector struggled as did all growth and quality-oriented areas of the market in 2022. That was a classic re-set and a raging opportunity to add exposure.
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