Stocks Had a Good 2023
The stock market had a great year toward the tail end of 2023 and closed higher. From the S&P500 chart below we had a rough start to the year. We started around 3800 and climbed to 4200, only to dip back to 3800.
I remember all the panic that traders and investors were expressing. The Federal Reserve continued to raise interest rates to tame inflation and Main Street was grumbling about the high prices of all basic goods. Gasoline was close to $3.50 in New Jersey, which is known to have lower gas prices than New York.
Some time in June all bets were off for the stock market. I don’t know if it was the “Sell in May and Go Away” effect or if the market started to price in the possibility of a rate pause by the Fed. Whatever it was, we had a damn good summer until August, then things took a downturn till November.
Remember, I always rebalance my portfolios at the end of April and October so I caught a bit of the run-up in May (after you subtract out the September/October drops) and caught the final run in November and December. I was prepared and, of course, lucky.
So what’s in store for 2024? Hell if I know. Chances are the markets will go up, down, and sideways for a time. This is an election year so I suspect the bull run will continue and be turbo-charged if the Fed cuts rates. Some talking heads are arguing that the market is (has) priced that in already but what do they know? Seriously, what do they know? They think they know but the market is one big Fugazi with dancing monkeys, shiny things to distract, and sparklers.
Me? I remain fully invested and keep dollar cost averaging into my 401k. Who knows, maybe this will go all tits up one day? Until then I’m extracting as much wealth as I can from this rigged clown show.
Happy New Year.