MARKET RECAP

• The S&P dropped by 0.7% but the Dow took a bigger hit, -2.7%.
• US stocks could not break through the declining trendline, meaning the trend is still negative.
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• The debt ceiling is a short and intermediate-term threat to the economy and the market.
• Jobless claims fell to 190,000 last week, the lowest level since September, indicating that the job market remains tight. However, there were several announcements of layoffs in the tech sector, Google will layoff 12,000 workers, Microsoft 10,000, and Amazon 18,000.
• Existing home sales wrapped up their worst year since 2014 in December. Sales were off by 17.8% compared to 2021. For the month of December, sales dropped by 1.5%, making it 11 months in a row of monthly sales declines.

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