Market Update Commentary
Despite a promising start to the year, equity markets have experienced a resurgence of volatility and many of the same issues that plagued them in 2022. Strong economic data has continued to hit the tape, including 50-year low unemployment levels and robust consumer spending, despite the aggressive rate hiking policy made by the Federal Reserve. Moreover, inflation data, such as the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index (the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation), has recently come in stronger than expected, ticking up for the first time since June of last year. This has spooked investors, who fear policymakers may continue ramping up their hawkish policy to get ahead of inflation.
