Weekly Market Update for October 13, 2023, from DeWayne Hall: World news taking precedence over U.S. Stock Market movement

Writing a quick note about the stock market once a week can get somewhat redundant at times, as the market moves at a much slower pace than the world news cycle. 

World news continues to take center stage 

In the week since our last market update, we’ve seen some disturbing events reported in the news. 

• For the first time in American history, a Speaker of the House was removed from office, with no signs of another one filling the vacancy any time soon. 
• A report was released that 70% of working Americans have depleted their savings accounts.
• And finally, the consumer price index came in hotter than expected, raising the odds of another interest rate hike by the Fed.

And yet, in the past seven days, the S&P 500 has barely budged, up less than a half of one percent.

The U.S. stock market remains the same 

So our update today is that nothing has changed in the stock market since last week. In September stocks broke lower out of a tight summer range, reversed course at the beginning of this month, returning right back into the middle of that same summer range, and this week decided to take a breather and a backseat to the crazy going on around the world. 

We believe the stock market is winding up for a big move out of this range sooner rather than later, but the direction is still up in the air. Seasonality and history points higher, but we wouldn’t bet our paycheck on it just yet, and recommend patience before deploying cash until the direction shows itself. 

The views expressed represent the opinion of Good Life Asset Strategies, LLC. The views are subject to change and are not intended as a forecast or guarantee of future results. This material is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice and is not intended as an endorsement of any specific investment. Stated information is derived from proprietary and nonproprietary sources that have not been independently verified for accuracy or completeness.