June Swoon?

Hello everyone! Welcome to the June 2024 edition of the boodle blog. Hard to believe, but we are at the half-way point of the year, and if you are new here, then welcome aboard! If you are one of our returning members, welcome back!
The boodle blog is a tool for you, our members to follow along with us as we follow the movements in the markets & the economy.
Boodle believes that the person best qualified to manage your portfolio is you, and we teach you how to do it, while you're going down the financial learning curve.
As always, before we look ahead to the month of June, we will take a look back at the month of May and see what the results were in the 3 indexes, and events that could impact our results going forward.
For the month of May, the DOW closed down only slightly (-0.11%) and the S&P 500 gained 2.92% while the NASDAQ added 3.58%. Year to date- the DOW stands at 5%, the S&P 500 is at 9% and the NASDAQ leads the pack with an 11.48% return for 2024 so far.
Boodle checked out BARRON'S this week and read that the Fed may not cut rates until sometime next year, due to the tight labor market, and the high inflation. If this turns out to be true, then we would view that as a signal that the economy remains stuck in a "lower gear" and inflation will extend into the new year. Another bit of interesting news that we recently learned is that Wall Street is going to T-1 settlement trading. What this means is that This means that stock trades will now settle in one day instead of two, so please take note of this going forward.

The BLS- Bureau of Labor Statistics reports on job growth from the month of May on June 7th. The unemployment rate is expected to remain steady at 3.9%, while job growth is averaging 245,000. 
Boodle believes that these numbers will remain in this narrow range for the foreseeable future.
For the month of June, we think that politics will start asserting itself as the nation gets closer to the DNC and RNC conventions. We don't anticipate a "June Swoon" and we wouldn't be surprised if the market continues to creep upward for this month. We base this prediction on the fact that we are in an election year and these years tend to have a bias to the upside- we will see if this pans out.
As per our strategy here at Boodle HQ, we continue to recommend all clients maintain their diverse portfolios using mainly index funds, and that you're deploying a dollar-cost-averaging approach to your investments. Boodle is always seeking to help people just like you, who would like to take control of their portfolios and manage their funds on their own. We thank you for placing your trust in us, and we hope that you enjoy the upcoming summer season, and we'll see you back here next month. Until then thank you for choosing boodle - the #1 site for helping individuals on their journey of financial enlightenment.