It was a short week for most people with Monday off, but we still saw plenty of activity throughout the week.
There were countless signs of many retailers trying to offload much of their excess inventories for the start of the summer. I hope everyone was able to find an excellent sale to take advantage of for the unofficial start of summer.
As recession and inflation worries continue, it was announced that Elon Musk instructed all hiring to be stopped and that he desires to cut roughly 10% of his staff. Furthermore, Musk expressed his concern for the state of the economy. He is far from the first to express concern as gas prices remain near record levels and the cost of goods is high. Additionally, in a surprising admission, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated she was wrong on how inflation unfolded in the country. It’s no secret the current administration and the Federal Reserve are working hard to lower inflation. We saw a slight improvement in this week’s job report as employment is at 3.6%. It will be interesting to see what steps the government takes over the summer, and I still believe we can expect the Fed to raise rates one more time by the end of the summer.
As I mentioned last week, Amazon’s (AMZN) stock split will go into effect with a per-share cost of around $121-122 at the opening bell. Just remember this is not a discounted price or a special sale. A stock split doesn’t change the company’s valuation but can allow investors to buy into a company at a much lower entry point. There’s been a lot of talk of Google (GOOGL) and Tesla (TSLA), but still no official word on if and when a split might occur.
The housing market continues to show signs of cooling off as interest rates steadily climb. For this week, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage would cost you just north of 5%, depending on your credit score. That’s a considerable jump from just two years ago. The cost of buying a home has clearly increased and has given pause to many potential buyers. Additionally, we’re seeing homes staying on the market longer, and many sellers are decreasing their sale prices.
As we move into June, let’s hope the summer brings a solid and robust economy.