Week of November 13, 2023
The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index closed at within 10% of its all-time high on Friday, November 10. Clearly, the equity markets have climbed the proverbial “wall of worry” given the harsh geo-political risks that have arisen, punctuated by the Hamas massacre of Jews which led to Israel’s war to root out Hamas in Gaza. Too, this was layered over the slogging war that Russia has waged on Ukraine. Interest rates on the 10-year US Treasury note spiked up to almost 5% in October but have since settled in around 4.6% as the Fed announced that it was unlikely to raise interest rates any further in 2023. Our Signals remain unchanged.
Bob Bilkie, CFA