Why “what do I do with my money” is harder to answer than anytime in a generation.
The chart below shows the BEST quarterly return from a basket of fixed income and equity assets.
As of the end of Q1, the S&P offered the best return from this list, LOSING 4.61%. The last time at least one of the assets from this basket failed to offer a positive quarterly return was Q1 1994.
Over the past decade or two, periods like the current one are when the Fed would typically step in to prop up the markets to provide a positive return.
Inflation now has the Fed’s hands essentially tied. The hope is that they can manufacture a soft landing but we fear the markets will struggle throughout the tightening campaign.
Nothing makes money in an inflationary environment, Ike we learned in the 1970s.