Stocks plunge as rate hikes rattle markets, retail sales miss

[Free Vulcan]

U.S. stocks tumbled Thursday as Wall Street reeled from another sizable rate hike by Federal Reserve officials and assessed similar moves by monetary policymakers across the Atlantic. A disappointing reading on consumer spending also weighed on sentiment.

The European Central Bank and the Bank of England followed the U.S. Fed in raising interest rates by 50 basis points Thursday morning. The BoE's hike brought rates in the country to their highest since 2008.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-updates-december-15-2022-114938982.html

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The market looks weak as a wet noodle right now.

[mountaineer]

You know who didn't lose money in the stock market? A lot of members of Congress! Isn't that amazing?

unusual_whales
@unusual_whales
🚨BREAKING🚨
I have just released the full trading report on politicians in 2022.
Despite 2022 being the worst market since 2008, both Democrats & Republicans beat the market.
Many politicians individually beat the market.
And many made unusual trades resulting in huge gains.

9:36 AM · Jan 3, 2023

This tweeter adds, "Despite 2022 being the worst market since 2008, both Democrats & Republicans beat the market. Democrats were down -1.76% in 2022, whereas Republicans were up +0.4%. Meanwhile, the S&P500 was down 18% in 2022."

More at 2022 Congressional Stock Trading Report

[Kamaji]

You know who didn't lose money in the stock market? A lot of members of Congress! Isn't that amazing?This tweeter adds, "Despite 2022 being the worst market since 2008, both Democrats & Republicans beat the market. Democrats were down -1.76% in 2022, whereas Republicans were up +0.4%. Meanwhile, the S&P500 was down 18% in 2022."

More at 2022 Congressional Stock Trading Report

Members of Congress and their family members should only be permitted to invest through blind trusts over which they have no control, and no right to information on any constituent security in the blind trust’s portfolio.

[catfish1957]

I was down 1.12% in '22.  Only second year since 1982 that I've suffered a portfolio loss.  I have tracked it that closely for that long.

Only other year was 2009, during the Obama Crash.

And honesty, looking at that graph, there is no way in hell anyone legally netted a 50% increase, with any level of diversification.
Fails the smell test, big time.

[mountaineer]

I was surprised that we were down only about 1.28% by the end of 2022. Of course, there were a few weeks in there that looked dicey.

[catfish1957]

I was surprised that we were down only about 1.28% by the end of 2022. Of course, there were a few weeks in there that looked dicey.

Great results in a tough year.   

Going into Dec., I actually was up a fraction of 1%, but some of my tax-free muni funds and corp. bonds went full dog on me.  Yep, the Fed strikes again.

On the bright side, on the latter, we might be close to some decent LT fixed return instruments.  From a miserly  perspective, I'd like to see the 30-yr reach 4%, and this damned bond inversion start subsiding.    I don't wish that on anyone else having to deal with killer rates , but I think we got a rare opportunity if we time it right.