Dear valued client,
Markets rose for 4 straight days this week as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s minutes that indicated another hefty interest rate increase later this month to continue the battle against rising prices.
I’m global political news, British prime minister Boris Johnson resigned this week amid a series of scandals, most notably the hypocritical party he attended with the ‘London elite’ when the country was on lockdown for COVID. Just this week at least 32 British lawmakers resigned in protest of his government. Johnson gained popularity and support during Brexit, Britain’s political divorce from the rest of the European Union. My hope is that this development does not wane the West’s united front against Russia’s expansionary efforts. Ukrainian president Zelensky has stated several times that Johnson and the UK have been some of Ukraine’s most supportive allies.
We’ve seen encouraging signs on the energy front in recent days. Quebec gas prices are hovering around $2.00/L, and even briefly dipped below that benchmark this week. This, in part, is linked to rising interest rates to help cool off the economy. Investors are betting that demand for fuel is going to drop relative to supply (which hasn’t dropped as much as predicted thanks to the war in Ukraine). Other commodities including wheat, corn, soybeans, and metals such as copper have all fallen below their prices at the end of March, according to the WSJ. This indicates the stabilizing of inflation is slowly beginning to materialize.
I’d like to leave you with a quote from Dave Ramsey about “smart investors” to close this week’s newsletter.
Have a terrific weekend,
PW
“Smart investors keep a long-term perspective. They don’t stress out over how their investments have performed in the past few weeks or what they’ll do in the next couple of months. Nope! They’re more concerned about what will happen five, ten, or even twenty years from now. And that helps them stay cool when everyone else is panicking.”
