By John Pangere, senior analyst, Strategic Investor
The markets are in turmoil.
As I write, the S&P 500 Index is down 23% for the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is faring worse, down 31%.
It’s just plain ugly out there.
You can blame it all on a number of factors. Inflation is raging at 8.3%. The U.S. dollar hit 20-year highs. And the Federal Reserve is keeping up its relentless pace of raising interest rates… with no hint of an end.
It has investors scrambling… with the typical deer-in-the-headlights look we see during bear markets.
For years, we heard about buying the dip. Or about the Fed put, with talking heads and major investors relying on the Federal Reserve to come to their rescue.
After all, that was typically the case for much of the last 40 years. It helped fuel the rise of risky assets and growth companies.