In the fourth quarter, developed market equities continued to rally with US Stocks leading the way up the “Wall of Worry”. Seemingly, there were many reasons for investors to take pause in Q4.
Today's To-Do: Year-End Inflation and Tax Moves
According to the US Labor Department, U.S. inflation hit a 39-year high of 6.8% last month. Meanwhile, in Washington, Democrats are scrambling to pass their $2 trillion “Build Back Better” spending bill before Christmas. While these two issues may not be directly related, they do offer either an opportunity or perhaps some urgency to act today.
Q3 2021 Market Review
World stock markets were flat to down in Q3, but it can be argued that they had a better summer than Joe Biden. Unlike Washington DC where spinsters sold the debacle in Kabul as a “tactical success” or the $3.5 trillion price tag of turning the US into a EU style social welfare utopia as “free”, equity investors weren’t quite as willing to rebrand slowing growth and inflation any differently than they were in the 1970’s when the “Stagflation” term was originally coined.