After four straight down days, the S&P 500 rebounded Friday but closed down for the week at 3825. With interest rate hikes and inflation making the headlines, it was a difficult first six months for the markets. On the first day of trading in 2022, the S&P 500 made a new record high of 4796. On 30 June, the S&P 500 closed at 3785, lower by over one thousand points. All told, the S&P 500 had its biggest one quarter fall since March 2020 and for the first half, it had its largest first half decline since 1970 while falling into bear market territory. From a technical perspective, the S&P 500 has been in a bearish trend with its price below its 50 day downward trending Moving Average (MA) which is below its 200 day downward trending MA. Volatility has also been prevalent with 64 days of over one percent moves, putting it on pace for breaking 2020s 108 days. For the upcoming holiday shortened week, we have the Fed Minutes on Wednesday followed by the June unemployment report on Friday. For TSP TIPS and given these bearish conditions, all three equity funds (C, S, I) fall into that afore mentioned Price below 50 MA below 200 MA category. All three also have double digit negative Performance Rankings. As such, we recommend no changes to our current allocation. Lastly, we wish everyone a Happy Independence Day weekend!!
After four straight down days, the S&P 500 rebounded Friday but closed down for the week at 3825. With interest rate hikes and inflation making the headlines, it was a difficult first six months for the markets. On the first day of trading in 2022, the S&P 500 made a new record high of 4796. On 30 June, the S&P 500 closed at 3785, lower by over one thousand points. All told, the S&P 500 had its biggest one quarter fall since March 2020 and for the first half, it had its largest first half decline since 1970 while falling into bear market territory. From a technical perspective, the S&P 500 has been in a bearish trend with its price below its 50 day downward trending Moving Average (MA) which is below its 200 day downward trending MA. Volatility has also been prevalent with 64 days of over one percent moves, putting it on pace for breaking 2020s 108 days. For the upcoming holiday shortened week, we have the Fed Minutes on Wednesday followed by the June unemployment report on Friday. For TSP TIPS and given these bearish conditions, all three equity funds (C, S, I) fall into that afore mentioned Price below 50 MA below 200 MA category. All three also have double digit negative Performance Rankings. As such, we recommend no changes to our current allocation. Lastly, we wish everyone a Happy Independence Day weekend!!