Stock Market Recap | May 17th, 2023

Repeat of prior week – generally of bad news for the U.S. economy – a pattern that is persisting without any change in sight.

The same concerns remain - slowing economic growth, more failures of regional banks, debt ceiling troubles and a Fed-induced recession expectation that is leading to reduced consumer confidence.

Downward bias in stock prices is the reaction by investors to what they see as an administration that seems unprepared (perhaps intentionally?) to address any of these matters.

Investors remain pessimistic and uninterested in owning stocks, with any buying attempts by value investors not supported by any follow-through buying by more investors.

Market conditions remain the most challenging right now since dating back to 2008. Prices move too little to signal an outright trade, so we suffer capital erosion in long positions in the meantime and hold the most unproductive positions in many years. Short positions are the profitable ones, though Level 1 again features fewer of these than Level 2 and 3.

A frustrating cycle to be in at the moment, requiring extreme patience.