February brought us high volatility and ended up fairly disappointing in the month for stock investors, albeit not entirely unexpected, if you’ve been following along with past letters. The S&P500 was down about 1.4% with the US Aggregate Bond Index up about 1.7%. Bonds were on such a good run in February. We’re just not used to seeing that since the Fed started raising rates back in 2022. Bouncing around record highs (and trying to break new ones) is tough. Mentally, it can sometimes be hard to not see straight upward momentum, but ups and downs are the life of investments. Of course, we all know that already. That’s why we’re here.
February was so volatile that we saw the S&P500 hit a record high mid-month only to retrace in less than 10 days, but then had a huge spike of over 1.5% on the last day of the month.
Single companies and sectors can (and do) sometimes affect the overall sentiment of the market. Just take a look at some news on NVIDIA lately. Chip makers are trying to find their foothold in the markets whether it’s an AI surge or simply trade tensions.
If you’re still wondering about how tariffs affect the economy, don’t forget to go back and read January’s explanation on money supply and inflation.
With March finishing out the first quarter of the year, my bet is that the Fortune 500 companies are currently trying to restructure their business operations in this final month to show promising profits for Q1.
Spring is almost here! It’s the only season that I remember when it starts because it’s my wife’s birthday…haha :)
Happy Mardi Gras and St Patrick’s Day!
Thank you all for your continued trust in us.
Larry Mroczkowski
President
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.
The economic forecasts set forth in this material may not develop as predicted and there can be no guarantee that strategies promoted will be successful. All investing involves risks, including the loss of principal.