THE WEEK ON WALL STREET

Stocks turned lower as a quiet news week offered investors little fresh visibility into the market overhangs of economic slowdown and inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 1.28%, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 2.21%. The Nasdaq Composite index dropped 4.13%. The MSCI EAFE index, which tracks developed overseas stock markets, lost 1.49%.^1,2,3

REBOUND FIZZLES

Stocks struggled last week amid poor market liquidity typical of the summer months and a news vacuum ahead of the second-quarter earnings reports. Investors also appeared to be anticipating guidance at the July Federal Open Market Committee meeting. What little news there was proved generally disappointing. A steep decline in consumer confidence preceded Fed Chair Powell's acknowledgment that inflation may persist.

Stocks stumbled after a profit warning from a high-end retailer, which highlighted recession risks. The sentiment suffered from a 4.7% increase in the core personal consumption expenditures index, which is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation. It remained near levels not seen since the 1980s. ⁴

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE WANES

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index declined to its lowest level since February 2021, falling from 103.2 in May to 98.7 in June (1985=100). While consumers’ assessment of current conditions slipped only marginally, their short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions eroded substantially, touching its lowest level since March 2013.⁵

This rising pessimism about the short-term outlook was especially notable in consumers' assessment of financial prospects, with 15.9% expecting their incomes to increase (down from 17.9% in May) and a growing share of individuals expecting their incomes to decrease (15.2% in June vs. 14.5% in May).⁶