OBSERVATIONS

• U.S. equities held a strong rally to close out the week, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way, jumping +8.11%
• Among style boxes domestically, all were positive.
• Developed international markets lead the charge up on the week, roaring higher +8.42%.
• Bonds were also in the black, with the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Bond index +3.86 and Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Bonds +2.29%

BY THE NUMBERS

The Taxman Cometh: A ticket sold in Altadena, California, was the sole winner of the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot this week. The lucky ticket holder won the largest jackpot in Powerball history and the largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history. The odds of winning the November 7 Powerball jackpot were about one in 292.2 million. Should this lucky individual opt for the $997.6 million lump sum cash payment, the IRS would collect 24% or $239.4 million off the top for federal tax. So really, congratulations to the government for winning the Powerball jackpot again. ⁴

Flying Costs Sky High: If you’ve looked at booking a flight recently, you’ll notice airfares are quite high and airline executives expect them to stay that way. Part of the issue has been the surging fuel and labor costs facing airlines. Additionally, worker shortages and delayed plane deliveries are preventing airlines from adding more flights when more people want to fly. In September, the consumer-price index for airfare was up 43% in from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Ticket prices were still depressed last year, but airfares in the CPI were up 8% from September 2019, according to Airlines for America, a trade group.⁵

Young Voters Showing Up: Voters under 30 cast their midterm ballots at nearly the highest rate in three decades. “About 27% of voters between the ages of 18-29 cast a ballot in the midterm election this year,” according to an early estimate from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, also known as CIRCLE. The high-water mark for voters aged 18-29 of 31% was set in 2018. ⁶

Economic Definitions

Midterm Elections - Every two years, one-third of the US Senate’s members and all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives are either elected (or reelected) or vacate their seat at the end of the term. When this biennial contest does not coincide with a presidential election, it is called a “midterm election.”

Economic Definitions

CPI (Headline & Core): Consumer prices (CPI) are a measure of prices paid by consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. The yearly (or monthly) growth rates represent the inflation rate.

Producer Prices - PPI (headline and core): Producer prices (output) are a measure of the change in the price of goods as they leave their place of production (i.e., prices received by domestic producers for their outputs either on the domestic or foreign market). Retail Sales: Retail sales (also referred to as retail trade) tracks the resale of new and used goods to the general public, for personal or household consumption. This concept is based on the value of goods sold.

Federal Reserve (Fed): The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States of America.

Index Definitions

S&P 500: The S&P 500® is widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities and serves as the foundation for a wide range of investment products. The index includes 500 leading companies and captures approximately 80% coverage of available market capitalization.

NASDAQ: The NASDAQ Composite Index is a broad-based capitalization-weighted index of stocks in all three NASDAQ tiers: Global Select, Global Market and Capital Market. The index was developed with a base level of 100 as of February 5, 1971.

Dow Jones Industrial Average: The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted average of 30 blue-chip stocks that are generally the leaders in their industry. It has been a widely followed indicator of the stock market since October 1, 1928.

Russell Mid-Cap: Russell Midcap Index measures the performance of the 800 smallest companies in the Russell 1000 Index, which represent approximately 25% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 1000 Index.

Russell 2000: The Russell 2000 Index is comprised of the smallest 2000 companies in the Russell 3000 Index, representing approximately 8% of the Russell 3000 total market capitalization. The real-time value is calculated with a base value of 135.00 as of December 31, 1986. The end-of-day value is calculated with a base value of 100.00 as of December 29, 1978.

MSCI EAFE: The MSCI EAFE Index is a free-float weighted equity index. The index was developed with a base value of 100 as of December 31, 1969. The MSCI EAFE region covers DM countries in Europe, Australasia, Israel, and the Far East.

MSCI EM: The MSCI EM (Emerging Markets) Index is a free-float weighted equity index that captures large and mid-cap representation across Emerging Markets (EM) countries. The index covers approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country.

Bloomberg Barclays US Agg Bond: The Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based flagship benchmark that measures the investment grade, US dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market. The index includes Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, MBS (agency fixed-rate pass-throughs), ABS and CMBS (agency and non-agency).

Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Corp: The Bloomberg Barclays US Corporate High Yield Bond Index measures the USD-denominated, high yield, fixed-rate corporate bond market. Securities are classified as high yield if the middle rating of Moody's, Fitch and S&P is Ba1/BB+/BB+ or below. Bonds from issuers with an emerging markets country of risk, based on Barclays EM country definition, are excluded.

Bloomberg Barclays Global Agg: The Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index is a flagship measure of global investment grade debt from twenty-four local currency markets. This multi-currency benchmark includes treasury, government-related, corporate and securitized fixed-rate bonds from both developed and emerging markets issuers.

Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Bond Index: The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Municipal Index covers the USD-denominated long-term tax-exempt bond market. The index has four main sectors: state and local general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, insured bonds and prerefunded bonds.

Disclosures

Index performance does not reflect the deduction of any fees and expenses, and if deducted, performance would be reduced. Indexes are unmanaged and investors are not able to invest directly into any index. Past performance cannot guarantee future results.

The statements provided herein are based solely on the opinions of the Advisor Group Research Team and are being provided for general information purposes only. Neither the information nor any opinion expressed constitutes an offer or a solicitation to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments. Any opinions provided herein should not be relied upon for investment decisions and may differ from those of other departments or divisions of Advisor Group or its affiliates. Certain information may be based on information received from sources the Advisor Group Research Team considers reliable; however, the accuracy and completeness of such information cannot be guaranteed. Certain statements contained herein may constitute “projections,” “forecasts” and other “forward-looking statements” which do not reflect actual results and are based primarily upon applying retroactively a hypothetical set of assumptions to certain historical financial information. Any opinions, projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements presented herein reflect the judgment of the Advisor Group Research Team only as of the date of this document and are subject to change without notice. Advisor Group has no obligation to provide updates or changes to these opinions, projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements. Advisor Group is not soliciting or recommending any action based on any information in this document.

Securities and investment advisory services are offered through the firms: FSC Securities Corporation, Royal Alliance Associates, Inc., SagePoint Financial, Inc., Triad Advisors, LLC, and Woodbury Financial Services, Inc., broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, and members of FINRA and SIPC. Securities are offered through Securities America, Inc., a broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. Advisory services are offered through Arbor Point Advisors, LLC, Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, Inc., Securities America Advisors, Inc., and Triad Hybrid Solutions, LLC, registered investment advisers. Advisory programs offered by FSC Securities Corporation, Royal Alliance Associates, Inc., SagePoint Financial, Inc., Securities America Advisors, Inc., Triad Advisors, LLC., and Woodbury Financial Services, Inc., are sponsored by VISION2020 Wealth Management Corp., an affiliated registered investment adviser. Advisor Group, Inc. is an affiliate of these firms. 5173294

¹ Data Obtained from Bloomberg as of 11/11/2022

² 2022 Midterm Elections | fivethirtyeight.com

³ Fed’s Waller "We’ve got a long, long way to go" | msn.com

⁴ Winning Ticket for Powerball' Record $2.04 Billion Jackpot Sold In California | cnbc.com

⁵ Don’t Expect Cheap Airfares to Come Back Soon | WSJ.com

⁶ Turnout among young voters was the second highest for a midterm in past 30 years | NPR.com