OBSERVATIONS

• The major stock indexes faltered for a second week in a row, with only the Dow in positive territory.
• For the week, NASDAQ declined by -0.68%, following weakness in NVIDIA Corp. and other chipmakers.
• The S&P 500 slouched -0.09%, notching its first consecutive weekly decline since October.
• International and emerging markets fell off as well, sinking -1.32% and -0.12%, respectively.
• Bonds run of four consecutive weeks of positive returns was halted. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury jumped to 4.30% from 4.08% the week prior. Bond price and yield are inversely related.

BY THE NUMBERS

Two Canals, Two Big Problems—One Global Shipping Mess: More than 50 ships queued to cross the Panama Canal on a recent day—from tankers hauling propane to cargo ships packed with food. A prolonged drought has led the canal’s operator to cut the number of crossings, resulting in longer waits. The tolls that ships pay are now around eight times more expensive than normal. Over 7,000 miles away, vessels that move containers through Egypt’s Suez Canal are waiting for naval escorts or avoiding the passage altogether to take a much longer voyage around South Africa. Ship operators fear that their crews could be imperiled on the journey through the Red Sea by missile or drone attacks from a Yemen-based rebel group. Ship operators are bracing for months of uncertainty in the waterways where some 18% of global trade volumes crossed last year. For now, the interruptions to supply chains are on a modest scale compared with the more widespread bottlenecks seen in 2020 and 2021.³

Why Chicago dyes its river green for St. Patrick’s Day: For the last 60 years, enterprising Chicagoans have dyed the city’s river a vibrant green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. In 1962, members of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union who were feeling festive dumped 100 pounds of that dye into the Chicago River, which turned it green for an entire week, per the Illinois Office of Tourism. The dyeing process itself is surprisingly simple: It takes just two boats, each featuring relatives of the first families, to dye the river; one boat does the dumping, and the other does the mixing. Around 40 pounds of dye and two hours later, the six-man team successfully turns the river a shade of shamrock green. And though the dye only lasts a few hours in the river, it stains the fingernails of the small but mighty team for weeks.⁴

Securities offered through Securities America, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC Advisory Services offered through Securities America Advisors, Inc. Matthew J. Lawler Representative  F&M Wealth Management and F&M Bank are not affiliated with the Securities America Companies May Lose Value - Not FDIC-Insured - No Bank Guarantee - Not a Deposit - Not Insured by any Government Agency

Economic Definitions

CPI (headline and 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.

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

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. 

The Fed's dot plot: is a chart updated quarterly that records each Fed official's projection for the central bank's key short-term interest rate, the federal funds rate.



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.

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 Osaic 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 Osaic Wealth, Inc. or its affiliates. Certain information may be based on information received from sources the Osaic 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 Osaic Research Team only as of the date of this document and are subject to change without notice. Osaic has no obligation to provide updates or changes to these opinions, projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements. Osaic is not soliciting or recommending any action based on any information in this document.

Securities and investment advisory services are offered through the firms: Osaic Wealth, Inc., Triad Advisors, LLC, and Osaic Institutions, Inc., broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, and members of FINRA and SIPC. Securities are offered through Securities America, Inc., American Portfolios Financial Services, Inc., and Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., broker-dealers and member of FINRA and SIPC. Advisory services are offered through Arbor Point Advisors, LLC, American Portfolios Advisors, Inc., Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, Inc., Securities America Advisors, Inc., and Triad Hybrid Solutions, LLC, registered investment advisers. Advisory programs offered by Osaic Wealth, Inc., Securities America Advisors, Inc., and Triad Advisors, LLC., are sponsored by VISION2020 Wealth Management Corp., an affiliated registered investment adviser. 6485369

¹ Data Obtained from Bloomberg as of 03/15/2024.

² Data Obtained from Morningstar as of 03/15/2024

³ Two Canals, Two Big Problems—One Global Shipping Mess | WSJ

⁴ Why Chicago dyes its river green for St. Patrick’s Day | CNN