On September 14, the ECB (European Central Bank) hiked interest rates for the 10th time — and signaled fairly clearly that despite inflation in excess of 5%, the cycle of monetary tightening was done. On September 20th, the FOMC (Federal Reserve Open Market Committee) passed on raising interest rates, in part due to clear improvements in an inflation rate fallen to close to 3% — and Federal Reserve Chairman Powell seemed to go out of his way to create a great deal of uncertainty over whether additional monetary tightening would be forthcoming. For the first time this year, a tighter Fed message last week has become a headwind for markets (all year Fed rate forecasts have moved higher while valuations expanded sharply). But now, after reaching 20x forward for the S&P and 33x for Growth areas like the Tech sector (returning to its 2021 peak PE) at the end of July. Investors are increasingly questioning valuations without incremental Fed liquidity, fiscal stimulus and strong fundamental earnings per share (EPS) growth. On the wealth planning front, we discuss the property insurance pricing increase that’s happening today.
Click Here to Read the September 25 2023, Economic Commentary
Click Here to Read the September 25, 2023, Investment Commentary
Click Here to Read the September 25, 2023, Wealth Planning Commentary
