While this year’s sharp selloff in stocks might feel brutal, particularly after the carnage of September, the S&P 500 remains about 17.1% above year-end 2019 levels, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
That isn’t low enough, given the likely scope of Federal Reserve actions needed to bring surging inflation back to the central bank’s 2% annual target, according to Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard. U.S. stocks ended lower Wednesday in choppy trade, after rallying sharply to kick off October and following their worst September since 2002. William Watts wrote how after a harsh September, the S&P 500’s SPX typically sees modest gains a month later, but not the Dow Jones Industrial Average, DJIA when looking at historical data.