Another week, unsurprisingly, of bad news for the U.S. economy.
A raft of concerns included slowing economic growth, more failures of regional banks, debt ceiling troubles and Fed rate increases that will produce a greater, longer lasting recession. Making matters worse is an administration that seems unprepared to address any of these matters until they become an emergency.
As a result, investors continue to be pessimistic and uninterested in owning stocks though many institutions are holding their positions despite price declines.
In another trend of this administration, prior month’s employment numbers were revised downward significantly, by an error of hundreds of thousands, with little notice by the enabling media. As mentioned before, employment figures as reported have become unworthy of belief, such that Friday’s current report of substantial jobs growth is highly suspect and likely will be revised downward later as well. Nevertheless, naïve investors once again reacted like Charlie Brown running toward Lucy holding the football (with the predictable result) and caused a nonsensical rally on Friday with their buying.
Polling of many fellow professional traders confirms we are experiencing the most difficult conditions in over a decade for making any investing return headway. Frustration is at a decade high, and there is no immediate relief in sight. At some point, there will be a tremendously profitable rally, so we need to remain involved so as to profit from it, whenever it does happen.
In the meantime, gains and highlights remain scarce, and trades remain few (or none) owing to little price movement.
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