A crazy week post midterm election and for the stock market
Posted By RichC on November 12, 2022
Well … the hopeful political “red wave” did not happen (at least from a conservative perspective). If we are to be generous, it could be viewed as a “small ripple” … but the results of the election as of this post are not fully counted even yet. Does that seem odd in our evolved and digitally advanced world? 
I think something is seriously wrong in a few of our states when it comes to their election laws … considering much larger states can count ballots by the end of election day?
Nevertheless, the Republicans did gain House seats and seemed to hold their ground in the Senate, at least until Georgia’s runoff election … since neither Raphael Warnock (D) or Herschel Walker (R) were able to garner the majority vote. From my perspective, I can only hope Georgians come to their senses and elect a Republican will help stop President Biden and his administration’s hard push to the political left. They have every intention to grow government in both size and power. The have more progressive policies that we’ve ever seen and are outright hostile toward those who voice their objection to this leftist push. If two years of higher and higher inflation, more spending, increased crime and a less secure border … and WORLD … isn’t enough to convince Americans we are a on the wrong track … I’m increasingly pessimistic for our nation’s future.
Election news aside, Thursday’s CPI numbers (graph above) seemed to indicate that inflation is no longer going up. Instead of an over 8% inflation number, it was “only” 7.7% (cough, cough). This is good news for investors who are hoping that the Federal Reserve “might” slow down the pace of their aggressive interest rate hikes. When lenders are asking more than 7% on home loans, higher interest car loans for autos make them too expensive to buy and middle-class workers find credit cards borrowing and rates so high that they can’t pay them off. Borrowers are balking when it comes to borrowing to buy both big and small ticket items (including groceries and gasoline — of course this is the Fed’s plan to cool the economy). Hopefully the powers that be at the helm, can balance this “too hot but not too cool” economy and prevent a deep recession?
Back to investors … on Thursday they liked the lower inflation number. Some have been waiting for a bottom in the stock market since it has sold off significantly this year … and don’t even get me started on crypto and those woes. Anyway the market rose on Thursday, sputtered a bit on Friday (expected after a strong day) and if all the stars have aligned, it is possible that at least we in the U.S. have found a bottom. Who really knows if we’ll stay here or if money will make it’s way back into stocks and the economy can find some solid ground?
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