Financial News and Portfolio Management Discussion through August 13th

US stocks ended the week higher as investors hope a recent deceleration in inflation will slow the pace of the Federal Reserve’s Fed Funds rate increases. The S&P 500 gained 3.3% and the Dow was up by 2.9% for the week. Foreign markets were also higher with the FTSE All World Ex US up 2.2% for the week. US crude ended the week at $92.09 per barrel, up from $89.01 the week prior. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was relatively flat ending the week at 2.85% up from 2.84% the week prior.

The consumer price index rose 8.5% in July from a year ago, down from 9.1% in June and below the 8.7% expected. On a monthly basis, CPI was flat in July after rising for 25 consecutive months. Core CPI, which excludes energy and food prices, fell 0.3% last month, down from June’s 0.7% gain and below the forecast of a 0.5% increase.

The producer-price index increased by 9.8% annually in July, much lower than the 11.3% increase in June and the smallest annual rise since October 2021.

The U.K. economy contracted in the second quarter. Gross domestic product fell 0.1%, slightly better than the 0.2% decrease economists expected, but lower than the 0.8% increase in the first quarter.

There is no guarantee that any investment strategy, including those described here, will be successful. Any investment or investment strategy can lose money. Past performance does not guarantee or predict future results. You should not assume that any discussion or information contained herein serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Raffa Wealth Management, LLC. This information was gathered from reliable sources, but we cannot guarantee accuracy. Indexes do not reflect the fees associated with actual investments and such fees would reduce the performance illustrated. Source: FMG Suite, LLC.
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