Bed Bath & Beyond jumps 68% to lead last gasp rally in meme stocks (2 min read)
A group of meme stocks continued to rally on Wednesday as retail investors are pushing their prices higher again. Bed Bath & Beyond stocks rose nearly 70% after it traded 39% higher a day earlier. Shares of AMC and GameStop also surged in the double digits. Bed Bath & Beyond stocks started to rally when the company announced layoffs and cost cutting measures amid the potential of bankruptcy. These meme stocks experienced a similar rally in 2021 but heavily pulled back in the following year.
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Goldman Sachs, BlackRock start layoffs, cut thousands of jobs (2 min read)
The first Wall Street layoffs of the year started with Goldman Sachs cutting over 3000 workers and BlackRock to cut up to 500. Although it adds up to thousands of employees, it's about 6.5% of Goldman Sachs’ workforce and less than 3% for BlackRock. But it is still a big contrast compared to the same time last year when the market was booming. As other major firms are also adjusting to the economic slowdown, more layoffs will likely continue across Wall Street.
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World Bank makes big cut to its 2023 growth outlook (3 min read)
The World Bank slashed its growth outlook for the global economy to 1.7% for 2023 from the previously forecast of 3%. The adjustment was led by the significant downgrades in advanced economies such as the US, China, Japan, Europe, and Central Asia. It slowed to the extent that the global economy is perilously close to falling into recession. The downgraded estimates would make it the weakest pace of growth just behind the period during the pandemic and global financial crisis.
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Gold is surging as investors bet on slower Fed rate hikes (2 min read)
Gold futures were at an eight-month high on Wednesday as investors are betting the pace of Fed rate hikes will slow. Gold prices began to fall last April when the Fed started to hike rates. Investors tend to favor assets with a regular income stream when rates are rising. But the market is increasingly expecting the cooling inflation data will slow the pace of rate hikes, boosting demand for gold. Despite the optimism, the Fed has not indicated a shift in policy.
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Bond ETFs That Have Gained Investors' Love to Start 2023 (5 min read)
During the first week of 2023, US fixed income ETFs had an inflow of $9.4 billion while US equity ETFs saw an outflow of $2.7 billion. The strong flows in fixed income are driven by the growing concern of a recession and investors see bonds as safer investments during economic downturns. The ETFs with the top flows last week were AGG, HYG, SGOV, TLT, and BIL. More on the breakdown of each ETF are available in the article.
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Advisors Turn Toward Large Cap, Non-US ETFs (5 min read)
As 2022 was a challenging year for investors, this article from ETF.com looks into some of the ETF recommendations from advisors to help their clients gain back ground in 2023. For equities, S&P 500 and international stocks are a common theme. Treasury bills and bonds are recommended for the fixed income side of the portfolio. More on the reason behind each ETF recommendation are available in the article.
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That's it for today! You can reply to this email if you have any comments or feedback.
Thanks,
Thomas
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