6/06/22 Wealth Management Insights

Please enjoy the 6/06/22 Wealth Management Insights edition from Crown Haven Wealth Advisors, Indiana’s #1 independent and fiduciary full-service firm.

May’s Tumult – Although May produced plenty of equity market volatility on the heels of April’s sell-off, the major U.S. indexes didn’t make any big moves overall last month. The S&P 500 and the Dow both recorded gains of less than 1% in May while the NASDAQ slipped around 2%.

Jobs Consistency – The U.S. labor market’s long stretch of gains extended into May, as the economy generated 390,000 new jobs while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.6%. The monthly job gain was the smallest since April 2021; over the past 12 months, employers have added more than half a million jobs a month on average.

Lowering Expectations – Wall Street analysts have recently been reducing their second quarter earnings expectations. On average, analysts in April and May cut their forecasts by 1.3% for companies in the S&P 500, according to FactSet. Companies will begin releasing second-quarter results in mid-July.

Top News to Watch this Week

Price Check – A Consumer Price Index report scheduled to be released on Friday will show whether the U.S. economy got any relief in May from surging inflation. A month earlier, the government reported that inflation accelerated in April at an 8.3% annual rate slightly below the previous month’s 8.5% figure, which was the highest since 1981.