Last week the inflation report came in for October much lower than expected at 7.7%. The market reacted strongly with the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring 1200 points or almost 4% Nov.10. The S&P 500 increased 5.5% the same day. This is the biggest rally we have seen in over 2 years.
- The unexpected increase in the market supported the ‘stay invested’ mantra financial advisors have been telling clients
o You can never tell you are in a recovery when it is happening! Its only in hindsight you can look back on market volatility and realize the market was actually improving
- A leader in the cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, losing billions for its investors
o The CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (age 30) is being called the Bernie Madoff of the cryptocurrency world.
o His firm, domiciled in the Bahamas, reportedly transferred $10 billion of client funds to another firm he owned. Mr. Bankman-Fried supposedly created a ‘back door’ in the books which allowed him to alter the firm’s financial records without raising any alerts.
- As a result, Bitcoin has significantly fallen from its all-time high of $75k BTC to its current value at roughly $16k BTC.
- Last year many investors were surprised at large capital gains distributions they received from mutual fund holdings.
o Vanguard has just released preliminary capital gains estimates so you can be prepared
- And in other news, Karen Bass (D) became the first woman elected as mayor of Los Angeles. She also became the second black mayor of LA in its 200 yr. history