Weekly Market Commentary

The much-awaited CPI inflation report came out last Wednesday, and while CPI is still at a YOY level of 8.5%, it was zero for the month of July, giving investors hope that inflation has peaked.

U.S. equities were mostly higher last week, despite 4 out of the 5 S&P 500 sessions being negative. Growth stocks outperformed value names. Treasuries were weaker with the yield curve flattening in a crazy week that saw the 10-year drop as low at 2.5% before ending the week at 2.8%.

Markets posted solid gains last week as the Fed raised interest rates by another 75 basis (0.75%) points as expected. Second quarter GDP was negative for the second consecutive quarter, coming in at -0.9%. In a "bad news is good news" scenario, investors are betting the Fed will need to be less aggressive going forward with rate hikes to fight inflation.

Signs of a cooling economy and fading inflationary pressures boosted investor sentiment last week. Risk-on assets like small cap and tech outperformed, and consumer discretionary stocks rallied as well.

The U.S stock market ended the quarter officially in bear market territory, down more than 20% for the year. While there have been multiple factors causing the market to experience its worst first half of the year, since 1970, the cause can really be synthesized into one word: inflation.