Actions speak louder than words.
Sometimes it takes a while for information to sink in and filter through asset-to-asset values. Take the housing market. The costs of owning a home have risen significantly because of the increase in interest rates. In previous normal times this would cause a decline in home prices to offset the increased costs of owning. Buying a home would be less expensive because the increase in monthly costs would have to offset the initial cost of buying a home to keep the affordability numbers reasonable. This has not happened in general but only in selected markets like condominiums in San Francisco.
Last week Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman announced that the Fed will not increase interest rates, but more rate hikes are coming-probably two more this year! Equity markets continued to increase until the end of the week. This week markets continued the fall. Last week market perception was only two more rate increases and the Fed is done. This week markets are saying we have two more rate increases. How quickly market perception changes. Kind of like the weather. The tough talk of rate increases looked good at first but lost its bite in a few days.
Thursday will bring more volatility as Jerome Powell testifies in front of Congress. Again, actions speak louder than words. As inflation falls but still far away from the Fed target of 2% will the next Fed meeting determine an interest rate increase. When will higher interest rates begin to impact housing prices? Will the shortage of housing supply be more important in determining housing prices than interest rates? Even with the stock market averages up over 20% from their lows will interest rate increases and historically expensive stock prices continue to resist a decline. Stay tuned!
Happy Solstice
June 21st was the longest sunlight day of the year and marked the official start of astronomical summer. My curiosity peaked while listening to a podcast about sunlight and how modern lifestyle has kept us more and more sheltered from that bright beacon in the sky. Life indoors, office dwelling, artificial light. It’s become very commonplace. What’s all this talk about circadian rhythms all about? In grade school we learned about a plant’s reliance on sunlight for photosynthesis and their ability to process nutrients in that way, but oh my goodness, what about human’s need for sunlight exposure?! Decades of hearing about how UV light is harmful for our skin, but what about the benefits of sunlight for our mood, our body's ability to get a restful night of sleep, our bodies exposure to vitamins? We need a healthy dose of sun rays just like plants, and the warmer weather helps us fill that need. f course there are apps for event this kind of tracking, dminder is one of them
Here's a link from El Camino health on resyncing your circadian rhythm.
SAS is growing. We've added two new financial planners, an investment client service manager, and an investment analyst summer intern. Adding two new financial planners results in a material change to our firm ADV. Please find our updated Firm ADV at www.sasadvisors.com/disclosures.
If you haven't already had the chance to meet and work with our expanding team members, we will be introducing each through our firm newsletter throughout the summer.
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