October 2023 Economic & Market Highlights

October saw declines across various markets, with stock performance heavily influenced by bond market dynamics along with heightened geopolitical tensions.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell mentioned that the strong economy and tight labor markets might require stricter borrowing conditions to control inflation. His thoughts were evidenced by a strong acceleration of 4.9%annualized growth in the economy during the last quarter, as well as continued upside surprises in job growth numbers.
This rise in bond yields is altering the relative attractiveness of stocks and bonds, as the subsequent rise in the cost of borrowing for companies affects expectations of profitability and current valuations.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas impacts global commodity prices and could increase inflationary pressures worldwide.

Source: Morningstar - All performance is percentage change of total return

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One cannot invest directly in an index. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based flagship benchmark that measures the investment grade, US dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market. The Barclays Capital Municipal Bond is an unmanaged index of all investment grade municipal securities with at least 1 year to maturity. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), commonly known as “The Dow” is an index representing 30 stock of companies maintained and reviewed by the editors of the Wall Street Journal. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market. The Russell 2000 Index measures the performance of the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000 Index, which represent approximately 8% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000 Index. The MSCI is an index of stocks compiled by Morgan Stanley Capital International. The index consists of more than 1,000 companies in 22 developed markets. The MSCI Emerging Markets is designed to measure equity market performance in 25 emerging market indices. The index's three largest industries are materials, energy, and banks.

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