Market meltdown Monday
The last 5 days have been bad
It’s been a rough few days for stocks. I’m not totally sure what’s going on (I do have a day job), but it appears that two things happened simultaneously that really shook markets (including U.S. Treasuries).
The Federal Reserve did not cut interest rates after its latest meeting (although it did signal that rate cuts are imminent).
A series of bad economic data came out that suggested the U.S. economy was struggling. This included weaker than expected jobs (+114k) a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.3%. This unemployment rise also triggered the “Sahm Rule” which is an interesting bit of technical analysis.
This is all probably much too simplistic (WTF is a “carry trade”?), but my sense is that this is a weird technical moment, and the market needed a healthy sell-off. Most sectors are now trading much much below their 50-day averages (although the utilities and real-estate sectors are holding on!).
Note: This is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be personal financial advice; be cautious — there is always risk involved with financial decisions!