facebook twitter instagram linkedin google youtube vimeo tumblr yelp rss email podcast phone blog external search brokercheck brokercheck Play Pause
Dogwood Wealth Management | Weekly Newsletter (Week Ending 1/20/22) Thumbnail

Dogwood Wealth Management | Weekly Newsletter (Week Ending 1/20/22)

Investing

Week In Review


Economy

For the last half year we've seen prices falling, reflected in the falling inflation figures reported monthly as the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI is a good measure to show price increases (or decreases) for a basket of goods and services that consumers pay for from month-to-month. There's another index called the Producer Price Index (PPI) which is designed to measure price increases (or decreases) higher up the supply chain. If CPI measures inflation for consumers, you can think about PPI measuring inflation for manufacturers.

The latest PPI data out this past week showed a sharp decline in prices, specifically energy and food, for the month of December. Retail sales in December also fell at the sharpest rate in a year. These two data points may indicate a rapidly slowing economy. However, the labor market continues to show strength as jobless claims were less than expected last week. Even with large companies announcing layoffs in response to recessionary risks, it seems employers just don't want to let good talent get away.

 

Markets

The S&P 500 had its first weekly decline of 2023, finishing Friday -0.66% in a short 4-day trading week. Making waves early in the week was Goldman Sachs which had a really poor 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs is one of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and so it contributed to the Dow having its worst week since September. The Nasdaq finished the week higher, bringing the year-to-date gains for the index to 6.4%. Netflix was a major contributor to those gains as they added 7.6 million subscribers last quarter.

For the year, the S&P 500 is up 3.5%. Reporting next week are companies such as Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon, IBM, Visa, and Boeing. It's still early in the game, but the wheels haven't fallen off the market rally in earnings season (yet?).  

What We're Reading