The DOW days of August
Hello everyone! Welcome back to the August edition of the Boodle blog! If you're new here, we are glad you've joined us- if you are a returning client, we appreciate your loyalty. Our philosophy at Boodle is that the person best able to manage and grow your money is you, and we are here to offer our 26 year history of investing in all types of market environments, so that you can become a better investor.
We will take a look at the July results and then look ahead to August and what you might expect in the coming month. The results for the market were a mixed bag- The DOW gained an impressive 4% return and the S&P 500 squeaked out a 0.51% gain. The NASDAQ was down for the month, and the index fell 2.93% for July.
When you step back and look at the year to date returns in the market, you get a more accurate reading of the robustness of the indexes. The DOW is up 8.01% and the S&P 500 sits at 16.14%. The NASDAQ is in the lead with 17.90% for the year. These stats are excellent, and we at boodle are thankful that our clients are participating in these gains.
In July, the Federal Reserve Bank led by Chairman Powell decided to push off an interest rate cut for at least another month. These rates remain near 19 year highs. Inflation is slowly falling, but we would like to see that pace quicken.
For the month of August, we believe that the market will behave pretty much as it had in July, due to the fact that the Fed hasn't moved on rates, and the key unemployment rate remains low. We believe that as a boodle client, you should strictly adhere to your asset allocation and continue to dollar-cost-average your cash into the market at these levels. Many of the high-flying technology stocks have begun to cool down, and we believe you should exercise caution when adding any individual stock to your portfolio at this time.
The race for the Whitehouse took an unexpected turn in July when President Biden announced that he would not seek a second term. This news led to Kamala Harris, the Vice President announcing that she would seek the top spot and run for President.We also saw the attempted assassination of Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, who narrowly missed being killed. We wish the ex-President a speedy recovery, and he is already back on the campaign trail.
We will wrap up this August edition of the boodle blog, by wishing you a wonderful August, and we remind you to send anyone that you know, who wants to start investing to contact us at 815-793-6059 to get started on their financial journey. We appreciate you all, and we look forward to seeing everyone back here next month! Enjoy your summer, and thank you for choosing Boodle!