Read the highlights of this week’s commentary from Helios:
The Fed officially began a new rate hiking cycle following their policy meeting last week. This was widely expected, and the Fed added language including “broader price pressures” to their statement. The new dot plot shows seven hikes this year as the Fed signals it is going to prioritize stabilizing prices over any growth concerns.
Following the release on Wednesday afternoon, the S&P 500 rallied nearly 5% from the intraday low on Wednesday through the close on Friday with the US government 10-year yield increasing 5 basis points prior to Wednesday, but then retreating 4 basis points from Wednesday to Friday.
February’s retail sales came in slightly below expectations, growing 0.3% during the month versus the 0.4% growth that economists had expected. This is a notable slowdown from the 3.8% rebound in January, which came off a weak December.
Industrial production was in-line with expectations, growing 0.5% in February, slower than January, and doesn’t include the additional supply chain headaches from the invasion of Ukraine and the shutdown of Shenzhen.
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