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When you see the current headlines, you may be asking yourself: why is the market going down? The short answer is interest rates. Interest rates are going up, and when rates go up, stocks tend to go down. This leads us to ask additional questions—why are interest rates up? And will they continue to rise? In the short term, it seems they will indeed continue to increase. Here’s why.

On August 24, 2022, President Biden announced plans to offer student loan forgiveness to selected individuals. Below is a summary of the executive action that the Biden Administration plans to effectuate. It’s important to note that strong legal challenges to these provisions are likely because the changes are sought to be implemented without Congressional approval.

As we enter the second half of the year, the outlook might appear grim at first glance. Covid-19 continues to spread, both here and worldwide. Inflation remains close to 40-year highs, and the Federal Reserve (Fed) is tightening monetary policy to fight rising prices. The war in Ukraine is ongoing, and it threatens to become a long-term conflict. Midterm elections loom in the U.S. Looking at the headlines, you might expect the economy to be in very bad shape.

As inflation has risen and stock prices have fallen, we’ve heard a lot of buzz about a bear market recently. And now we’re officially here. Traditionally defined as a period during which stock prices fall 20 percent or more from recent highs, a bear market indicates significant market and economic stress. While the Nasdaq has been in a bear market for quite some time, that index is made up primarily of technology stocks, which are notoriously volatile. Now the S&P 500 has also hit this milestone. Since this index includes the largest and best-known companies across all industries, the price drops here are a better indicator of overall market stress.

Whether you’ve seen the prices at the pump, clicked on the headlines, or overheard discussions in the grocery store, you know the rising cost of gas has everyone talking. At the start of the summer driving season, the average price of regular gasoline in the U.S. reached an all-time high, surpassing $4.50 per gallon. Inflationary pressures, including strong demand, supply chain disruptions, and low inventories, have caused price spikes for many consumer goods. As the cost of filling your tank rises, you’re likely wondering which market factors caused the spike in gasoline prices.

Many of the discussions around the market decline so far this year have revolved around two issues: why is it happening and how far will it go? Most people look at the market as an independent entity, trying to second-guess how it will act in the future. Most people will, inevitably, be wrong.

Job growth is still at high levels, consumer spending is still healthy, and businesses are continuing to invest. So, you may be confused when you see news of the stock market going down in an economy that seems to be doing well. The market has fallen significantly from its peak at the start of the year and, more recently, has taken a sharper drop. Shouldn’t the stock market go up in a healthy economy? The short answer: not necessarily. Let’s take a look at the reason for the market downturn, and what we can expect in the future.

If you’re a fixed income investor, there’s bad news—and good news. The bad news: so far this year, rising interest rates have caused bond prices to fall and led to declines for most fixed income investors. You may be wondering what caused this decline and what may be expected for the future (spoiler alert: there’s good news on the horizon). 

Now that we’re almost two weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, some of the dust is starting to clear around the financial markets. Since the invasion on February 24, markets first rallied, then dropped, and (as of this writing on the afternoon of March 9) now are roughly at the same level as they were before the invasion. In other words, for all the headlines and the tragic damage in Ukraine itself, markets have so far largely shrugged off the impact. Not at all what you would expect.

Russia launched attacks on Ukraine yesterday, marking the start of the next phase in the Ukraine crisis. It makes sense that the markets are already reacting. Before the market opened, U.S. stock futures were down between 2 1/2 percent and 3 1/2 percent, while gold was up by roughly the same amount. The yield on 10-Year U.S. Treasury securities has also dropped sharply. International markets were down even more than the U.S. markets, as investors fled to the more comfortable haven of U.S. securities.