4/25/22 Wealth Management Insights

Here is the April, 25th edition of the Weekly Wealth Management Insights update from Crown Haven Wealth Advisors, Indiana’s #1 independent and fiduciary full-service firm.

Q1 GDP Ahead – A report scheduled to be released on Thursday will show whether the U.S. economy’s strong late 2021 momentum carried over into early 2022. The government will release its initial estimate of first-quarter GDP growth. In the previous quarter, the economy expanded at an annual rate of 6.9%; for full-year 2021, the rate was 5.7% on an inflation-adjusted basis-the fastest growth since 1984.

Peak to Valley – A strong start wasn’t enough to prevent the major U.S. stock indexes from falling for the third week in a row, resulting in declines of around 2% to 4%. The market had been on track for a positive week until Thursday morning, when stocks began a steep descent that extended into Friday amid further signs of tightening monetary policy.

Half-Point Hike? – It’s looking increasingly likely that the U.S. Federal Reserve will accelerate the pace of its interest-rate increases, based on public comments Thursday from Jerome Powell. The Fed chair said the central bank is likely to raise its benchmark rate by a half percentage point at its meeting on May 4. It’s more typical for the Fed to raise rates by a quarter point at a time, as it did in its March meeting.

U.K. Anxiety – A British stock index fell 1.4% on Friday and the pound dropped to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar since 2020. The moves came after a government report showed that U.K. retail sales fell by 1.4% in March. In addition, British consumer sentiment tumbled to its second-lowest monthly reading since records began nearly 50 years ago.

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