April Showers, Stock Market Flowers

Hello fellow Boodle members! Welcome to the April 2022 edition of the boodle blog. We are grateful to have you as blog reader, and hope to have you as a member, if you haven’t already joined our members.
Now that we have just finished the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, let’s recap this volatile quarter and analyze how 2022 is shaping up, and what we can expect this month and how your portfolio may be affected.
The Market, as measured by the S&P 500 is down 4.62% YTD at the time this blog was written. We do not expect to see much in the way of gains for the foreseeable future as domestic and world events continue to function as a damper effect, or shower if you will, on stock market advancements. We told you in the March blog that we expect any gains to be limited, and that we do not anticipate any meaningful positive advancement in our portfolios until late summer or fall.

So, with that being said, for Q1 we saw a negative decline of 4.62 on the DOW and 4.18 on the S&P 500. The NASDAQ was the big loser with an 8.84% decline for the first 3 months of 2022. These numbers validated what we blogged about as early as February.
The forces that led us to our current view of the markets are still very much in play: Oil prices remain elevated and right now trades at about $101 a barrel. Inflation is at 40-year highs and you as a consumer can feel its effect when you go to the grocery store or fill up your automobile.
Meanwhile, Russia continues to execute its war on Ukraine and the battle is well into its second month. We at boodle continue to hope for an outcome that is favorable to the people of Ukraine. We do not see much upside in a war between two nations.
We got the March unemployment numbers and the economy added 490.000 jobs and the rate edged down to 3.7% from 3.8%. These numbers are decent, but the problem remains; employers finding qualified applicants.
The housing market is still going well if you are looking to sell your home. Single family construction inventory is at its best level in 16 years. Existing home inventory fell 7.2% while the average price for an existing home rose to $357,000. Boodle believes the housing market will continue to remain strong in most areas of the country.
So with this latest look at the U.S. economy, boodle will adhere to its forecast that you can review in the February & March blogs. We believe that portfolio gains will remain difficult while the Federal Reserve continues to hike interest rates. We do believe that a significant buying opportunity will present itself in the late summer or fall of 2022. This will be the time to deploy your cash that you should be accumulating in the Money Market portion of your portfolio.
Continue to follow our blog, which we publish monthly, so that you will be up to date on our view of where the market is headed. Continue to educate yourself on all things financial, and we hope to see you back here next month for the May edition of the boodle blog. Thank you and have a great month!