What’s the state of the market? That’s what many on Wall Street want to know, amid a continuing war in Eastern Europe, doggedly high inflation, stomach-churning volatility in stocks and other assets, and a Federal Reserve that is slowly draining Wall Street’s punchbowl of easy money.
“This State of the Union could be one of the most important ones in recent memory,” said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments in Atlanta. Biden needs to convey that he is “doing everything he can to protect the world order,” he said. And it isn’t just Biden on display next week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver scheduled testimony to Congress on Wednesday and Thursday on monetary policy.
Zaccarelli said the more it looks as if the “Fed’s hands are tied, and they are forced to tighten monetary policy to fight inflation, the more volatility we are likely to see [markets] over the course of this year.” The concern on Wall Street is that the Federal Reserve could end up tightening financial conditions at the same time inflation stays high, and the U.S. economy slips into recession.
— Chris Zaccarelli There are some signs, however, that supply-chain bottlenecks that had been one of the contributing factors to higher prices, are starting to recede.
The only thing that matters right now is helping Ukraine repel the Russian invaders!