Markets were broadly higher in a week that saw continued volatility on the back of the ongoing turmoil in US (and now global) banks and a Federal Reserve that gingerly toed the line between giving in on the fight against inflation and being tone-deaf to the mounting evidence that its policies are leading to economic and market-related stress. 

Despite finishing the week on a softer note, markets continued their very strong start to the year.  Despite trailing their tech counterparts in the NASDAQ, small-cap stocks (as measured by the Russell 2,000) posted their strongest start to the year since 1987. 

The broad stock market rallied on Friday to finish the week roughly unchanged.  A strong end-of-week Initial Jobless Claims report combined with a declining Purchaser Price Index report offset the weak report in U.S. retail sales. 

As you have likely asked yourself with previous weekly updates, what does this have to do with investing!?  Well, truth be told, not much really.  Not directly anyway.  Like baseball, investing is a marathon, not a sprint.  Baseball owners hire general managers to run the team. 

It might shock some readers to read this but the ten largest companies in American today will not likely be the ten largest in a decade from now. Look at Facebook. Or Netflix. Both were massive disrupters in their industries. And investors made boatloads of cash.

Equity markets capped off a strong week Friday by rallying immediately after the Wall Street Journal reported that there might be some deliberation amongst Fed officials about the path of interest rates after the expected 75 basis point hike at the next Federal Reserve Open Market Committee decision on November 2nd.

Baseball, like investing, is dependent on statistical analysis. Building a team is like building a portfolio. You can’t play without a pitcher, or a catcher, or first basemen. You need 9 players on the field.

The labor market isn’t slowing enough, and people are leaving the job market, decreasing the labor participation rate again. Its just not what traders wanted. As a result, the dramatic rise in markets on Monday and Tuesday were almost erased. We’ve witnessed this whipsaw action for months now.

Hurricane Ian made landfall on the west coast of Florida this week causing massive damage to the state.  The storm surge and ensuing rainfall from Ian as it made its way across central Florida caused upwards of $40 billion in insured losses according to early estimates reported in the Wall St. Journal.  It could shave off 0.3 percentage points off the country’s Q3 economic growth.

Major US equity indices sold off hard this week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average putting in a new low for the year. It hasn’t been just the US. Global growth fears that have roiled markets across the globe.