Stock markets dropped steadily over the month with the big tech stocks leading the way. The weighting of these stocks in the S&P 500 Index brought that indicator down -9% in April. The NASDAQ has all these tech stocks and is down -13% this month and -22% year-to-date. With rising interest rates, bonds are again negative except for the shortest-term Treasury bonds.
The six mega tech stocks are responding directly to the Federal Reserve projected interest rate hikes. We can expect those stocks that are not insulated from rising interest rates to continue to suffer with proposed rate hikes this year. The housing market surge is also slowed with higher interest rates causing higher interest loans on now higher priced homes. We are not looking at a repeat of the tech crash of 1999. These are profitable companies, not the no-profit stocks of the dot-com era. If the Fed reads inflation well, interest rate hikes will slow over the year and avoid recession. More on that in the coming months.
Life surges back with the color and abundance we have longed for. Now feeding families of birds along with newly arriving hummers adds to the activity in the garden. A dear friend sent me a link to an osprey cam in Falmouth. The eggs (4!) were laid in mid-April and should hatch in mid/late-May. Meanwhile he brings her a fish every so often and spells her on the nest. If this interests you, the link is https://waquoitbayreserve.org/live-osprey-cam/
