Robertson Stephens Weekly Commentary – July 22, 2024

As the Federal Reserve steps gingerly towards its next interest rate decision at the FOMC meetings scheduled for July 30-31, the data released this week will be critical.  Markets do not expect any interest rate cut in July but have begun to anticipate a 25 bps reduction at the September FOMC meeting. Last week, the rotation and broadening of the market from the previous week continued, though this week, the S&P 500 eventually returned -1.9% as mega cap stocks (the Magnificent 7) fell ~5% even as the average stock in the index was mostly flat. Early in the week, the S&P 500 hit its 38^th record high of the year. However, selling out of the mega cap stocks continued through the week, particularly impacted on Wednesday, along with chipmakers, amid concerns about additional US restrictions on chip sales to China. On the wealth planning front we discuss the IRS finalizing the inherited IRA rules.