Sideways is nice

When the alternative is down

The market had a nice rally today. The big news was the robust beat on retail sales. Prior to the release, I probably would have said that strong retails sales could mean a down market, as it would imply the Fed has plenty of economic runway to continue raising rates.

However, there was some chatter that a monster 100bp hike is off the table for now, so we will probably just see another 75bp and investors seem content with that.

Overall though, the market has been moving sideways for a bit. And, that is certainly better than moving down!

While maybe not as fun as a huge rally like we saw after the COVID crash, sideways will eventually get us out of the down channel we are in. It really would be a great second half of the year if we could break the trend and get some losses back. Here’s to hoping!