August Market Recap: Market Volatility Continues
Inflation & Volatility Continue, The Merge Awaits
Dear Sunday Investors:
Happy Football Sunday & welcome back to the August market recap edition of the Sunday Investor! To all members, we will be going into a recap for the markets in August starting with the top 5-10 news articles of the month, TLDR of the markets in August, the top Twitter threads & educational investing/market videos of the month, chart/technology of the month, more on upcoming events in the markets, while lastly ending with our memes of the month and the conclusion!
As always, read, enjoy and share The Sunday Investor with any friends below
Best News Articles Of The Month
The annual inflation rate in the US slowed more than expected to 8.5% in July of 2022 from an over 40-year high of 9.1% hit in June, and below market forecasts of 8.7%
U.S. employers add 315,000 payrolls in August, slightly above expectations of a gain of 300,000 jobs. The unemployment rate rises to 3.7% from 3.5%, disappointing forecasts - DailyFX.
Fed Chair Powell's Jackson Hole speech this month was a little more hawkish than had been expected making the odds of another 75-bp rate hike at the Fed’s September 20-21 meeting very likely. - Lending Tree.
Popular Privacy Coin Mixer Tornado Cash sanctioned and banned by the US Treasury Department. Crypto enthusiasts flee to alternatives such as Monero, which is fully private/impossible to this date to hack . - CNBC.
Bitcoin is down 13% and Ethereum is down 6% in August with market volatility leading up to the Ethereum merge in September - CNBC.
China lowered the five-year loan prime rate, a reference for mortgages, by 15 basis points to 4.30%, equaling a rate cut in May that was the largest on record. But while lower borrowing costs could help spur demand for mortgages, it’s unlikely to reverse the sharp slump in confidence faced by Chinese developers, many of which are struggling to finish incomplete homes that they’ve already pre-sold to homebuyers. - DarQube.
The euro fell to a new two-decade low as it dropped to as low as $0.9930 – a level last seen in 2002, just a few years after the currency came into existence. - DarQube.
August Market TLDR
Month over month inflation finally stabilizes
Ethereum keeps the crypto market afloat awaiting “the merge”
Gas prices finally start to fall, while UK energy prices continue to soar
Dow Jones and the S&P 500 indexes fall 2-4% across the volatile month
$1 Euro is still weaker than $1 Dollar
China lowers mortgage rates building on already existing housing crisis rumors
Fed rumors rate hikes next month to continue combatting rampant inflation
Crypto privacy under global eyes as popular privacy protocol Tornado Cash’s founder was jailed for creating code
Top Twitter Threads Of The Month
Top Videos Of The Month
Bankless Crypto: Tornado Cash Banned by OFAC
Kevin O’Leary: Are We At A Turning Point For Crypto?
Chart Of The Month
Technology Of The Month
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September Upcoming Market Events
The Ethereum Merge: September 13th
The highly anticipated Ethereum merge from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake is set to happen between September 13-15th. Ethereum will be moving so that liquidity in the form of staking will secure the network rather than hardware like the current array of GPU mining rigs.
US Inflation Numbers: September 13th
US inflation stagnated last month for the first time since hitting highs at 8.5%. Analysts are predicting a drop in inflation to 8.1% month-over-month. Expecting volatility after these numbers are released which could be worse depending on the actuals combined with crypto news with Ethereum
Fed’s FOMC Meeting: September 20-21
Most analysts expect the Fed to raise rates by 75bps in September to bring inflation under control. Vanguard expects the Fed to increase its federal funds’ rate target to a range of 3.25% to 3.75% by the end of the year, from a target of 0% to 0.25% at the start of the year and a terminal rate of at least 4% in 2023 is expected to get inflation under control.
Memes Of The Month
Next Article
Will be keeping my eye out for new content to write about in August while market uncertainty continues. As always, send in any questions directly to me or comment below on this post what you’d like me to write about or answer next!
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