Wall Street has the temperament of a temperamental adolescent. No matter how many times you warn them to be ready for something, they behave as if the world is ending once it happens. It’s similar to:

Us: Remember how we said six months ago (and every day after) that the Fed would become more active in fighting inflation? That is now taking place.

Traders: UGH I HATE YOU, TAKE ALL MY STOCKS AND LEAVE MY ROOM.

Here’s how it works: Right now, Wall Street is in one of those moods. Stocks dropped TK.

Markets were being dragged down by two key forces:
The 100-Point Bet: Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said that although he anticipates a three-quarter-point increase in interest rates later this month, he is not ruling out a full point increase. That would have made you laugh out of the room a few months ago, but following Wednesday’s dismal inflation data, it’s not out of the question.

According to Bloomberg, Citi analysts went a step further, telling clients that the bank now views a full percentage point raise, aka 100 basis points, as the most probable result.

Blue Bellwether: JPMorgan Chase’s earnings season began on a bad note. The bank, generally regarded as a Wall Street bellwether, temporarily ceased share buybacks and reported a 28% drop in earnings from the previous year. Morgan Stanley’s results were likewise dismal.

In conclusion: Fears of a recession are at the root of all of this angst. Nobody likes the letter R. However, as we’ve previously said, not all recessions are made equal, and many experts believe that if/when the recession occurs, it won’t be the kind of devastating slump saw in the spring of 2020 or the late 2000s.

RELATED: American public pension systems are experiencing significant issues that jeopardize the retirement plans of millions of state and local government workers in the United States.

$5,000 is the number of the day.
LCD Soundsystem’s iconic words: I adore you, New York, but you’re pulling me down.

Manhattan prices are famously exorbitant — the city even has a political party called Rent Is Too Damn High — but the average monthly cost of an apartment has now reached a stomach-churning milestone: $5,000. Of course, that’s the average, but the median cost, which is over $4,000 a month, isn’t much easier to swallow. Both percentages are more than 25% higher than a year earlier.

The reason for the increase is that mortgage rates have risen beyond 5% in recent months, discouraging would-be purchasers who have plenty of cash but need a place to live while they look for a better financing alternative.

CHAOS IN TRAVEL

The summer air travel disaster has reached ludicrous proportions.

Heathrow Airport in London took the unprecedented step earlier this week of notifying airlines that they must halt selling tickets for leaving customers for the remainder of the summer. Which we felt was rather absurd. Chris Isidore of CNN Business then reported on how one airline is coping with one facet of the Heathrow staffing shortage.

Heathrow just does not have enough luggage handlers, which is a major issue for an international airport of its magnitude. Massive suitcase backlogs are allegedly building up at baggage claim. According to my colleague Anna Cooban, the airport’s ground handling employees are manned at 70% of pre-pandemic levels.

The situation became so severe that Delta had to take the “creative” step of flying a passenger plane without passengers from London to Detroit to transfer roughly 1,000 missing luggage.

Other passengers are experiencing human traffic jams as they hurry to their gates or clamor for airline assistance after their planes are canceled or delayed. Just everything you need to start your first trip in two years…
To make things worse, the airlines and airport are playing a blame game about who should have done what to avert this problem.

In a statement, Emirates lashed out at Heathrow’s leadership, calling the situation at the airport a “airmageddon” (which, as puns go, isn’t the worst, but it may be a touch over the top). “As a result of their stupidity and inaction, they are shifting the full weight — of expenses and the hurry to sort out the issue — to airlines and passengers,” Emirates said.

Heathrow responded, saying, “For months, we have requested airlines to assist us come up with a strategy to handle their resourcing difficulties, but no concrete proposals were produced, and the situation became worse with each passing day,” a spokeswoman told Anna.

Bottom line: The blame game means nothing to the folks who are racing to return home, or wherever they are, after paying top cash for flights that were eventually canceled. At this point, all I want is for someone in Silicon Valley to develop teleportation technology so we can finally say goodbye to flights and airports.

Reference: 

Morrow, A. (2022, July 15). Analysis: Why markets are in such a foul mood right now. CNN. Retrieved July 15, 2022, from edition.cnn.com/2022/07/14/business/nightcap-stock-market-recession/index.html