Economic cracks are getting exposed in the 2024 market bounty
Fresh meme-stock mania took center stage on Wall Street this week just as the world’s biggest equity market closed out another blistering quarter.
Yet behind the scenes, softening economic growth is testing bullish investor convictions, while fueling big divides between the strong and the weak across Corporate America.
Dispiriting trends that have been visible for months now alongside the frenzy for megacap tech stocks and private credit – are on display yet again. Companies with dicey balance sheets have underperformed anew in June. Equal-weighted stock benchmarks where disruptive AI market leaders have the same weighting as industrial bellwethers have lagged yet again.
A dose of good news onconsumer prices initially boosted sentiment in early Friday trading, with the S&P 500 closing the week little changed. Along the way, warnings have grown that the Federal Reserve is waiting too long to release the economy from its anti-inflationary grip.
Fueling the anxiety: Data that have turned dour all at once. Reports on personal spending, jobless claims and home sales— as well as underwhelming results from the likes of Micron Technology Inc. and Nike Inc. — call into question the sustainability of the soft-landing euphoria. It all adds another variable for institutional pros, who’ve been watching from the sidelines the latest day-trading mania and a presidential election cycle that’s kicking into high gear.
“Cracks are appearing in individual companies and sectors,” said Kris Atkinson, a portfolio manager at Fidelity
