The Dow Jones is being hit with a sledgehammer – how worried should you be?

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This is the takeaway from today’s morning briefing, and what you can do subscription Received in your inbox every morning with:

On big stock market down days or extended selling periods, it’s good to have a reliable guide.

Think of it as a guide to maintaining your sanity amid the chaos, and hopefully your investment portfolio will flow with long-term gains.

For me, the Sales Playbook is a dual exercise honed over years of reporting business news.

First, talk to the smartest people I know in markets and business. What do they do and say, and why? Does he or she look afraid?

Secondly, think deeply about whether something has really changed in the market or if investors are just getting anxious about flashy headlines.

Suffice it to say, I had to dust off that playbook this week. Final assessment: Relax people, this is not the start of a bear market even though the bar looks punitive.

Why do you ask?

A lot of the smartest people in the room, so to speak, have good reasons to stay long on stocks. The economy is not falling off a cliff. We are likely to continue to get rate cuts in 2025. We have a pro-business president in Trump taking office in less than a year. A month ago.

“Big picture, with record profits, record margins, strong productivity, and an overall improvement in consumer and small business sentiment, it’s hard to believe this bull market is over,” said Carson Group chief market strategist. Ryan Dietrick He told me.

says Truist Chief Investment Officer Keith Lerner“The bull market remains intact, but we are seeing an internal check in the short term.”

Gut check, actually.

the Dow Jones Industrial Average It immediately ended Wednesday’s session down more than 1,100 points. It rose slightly on Thursday, but selling pressure renewed on Friday.

Index of 30 popular stocks like Salesforce (Customer relationship management(and disney)Dis) fell by nearly 4% in December as losing streaks began to pile on one another amid renewed uncertainty over interest rate cuts.

The S&P 500 is down 3% this month. Market leader Nvidia (NVDA) He is Down 6% in December.

What spooked markets was the Fed’s lack of commitment to cut interest rates significantly in 2025.

The consensus among Fed officials is Now to cut interest rates twice next yearDown from four previous forecasts in September, as the monetary policy body remains concerned about inflationary expectations. Inflation expectations are more uncertain due to potential moves by the incoming Trump administration, e.g And perhaps inflationary tariffs on China.





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