Every Friday I recap “news you can use” from the week: a handful of quotes from major (and often expensive) news sources, so you can stay up to date on the news that affects your money without spending a dime and in less than a minute.
Here’s an overview of what happened this week.
Individual Investors Hang On in Wild Year for Stocks While Pros Sell (Dec. 19, Wall Street Journal):
U.S. equity mutual and exchange-traded funds, which are popular among individual investors, have attracted more than $100 billion in net inflows this year, one of the highest amounts on record in EPFR data going back to 2000.
Hedge funds, meanwhile, have been paring how much risk they are taking in stocks or making outright bets that major U.S. indexes will tumble.
Why the Bank of Japan’s surprise policy twist rattled global markets (Dec. 20, MarketWatch):
The Bank of Japan sent shock waves through global financial markets Tuesday, effectively loosening a cap on 10-year government bond yields in a surprise move seen as potentially pointing the way to a broader tightening by the last major global central bank to maintain an ultraloose monetary policy.
U.S. Treasury yields spiked as global bond yields rose.
JPMorgan, Goldman Say Stocks Recovery Won’t Be Easy in 2023 (Dec. 21, Bloomberg):
Investors ready to turn the page on the worst year for equities since the global financial crisis should brace for more pain heading into 2023.
That’s the blunt message from top strategists at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and others, who are warning that stocks face fresh declines in the first half as corporate earnings succumb to weaker economic growth and still sky-high inflation, and central banks remain staunchly hawkish.
Tech Stocks Head for Worst December Since 2002 as Fed Optimism Fades (Dec. 22, Bloomberg):
Technology stocks are headed for their worst December since the bursting of the dotcom bubble two decades ago as optimism about potential relief from Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes faded on signs of labor-market strength.
The tech benchmark, laden with companies like Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., has dropped 8.93% this month.
US Inflation Gauges Cool, Consumer Spending Stalls as Fed Nears Rate Peak (Dec. 23, Bloomberg):
The personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy, which Fed Chair Jerome Powell has stressed is a more accurate measure of where inflation is heading, rose 0.2% in November from a month earlier, Commerce Department data showed Friday. That matched estimates, but data for the prior month were revised higher.
Personal spending, adjusted for changes in prices, stalled in November, the weakest since July and below forecast.
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I founded Money Talks News in 1991. I’m a CPA, and I have also earned licenses in stocks, commodities, options principal, mutual funds, life insurance, securities supervisor and real estate.