April Market Review

April 2023 was a good month for everything that we are currently monitoring (see picture below).

Everything turned in positive returns for the month.

Which is slightly concerning to me as it gets harder to find “non-correlating” asset classes when everything is going up.

However, it could be a sign of “new” money coming off of the sidelines and into the markets.

Time will tell.

More than half of the year-to-date return for the S&P 500 came in the last four weeks.

The tech heavy NASDAQ is still the big winner for the year, even though it was last year’s dog.

And Commodities and Energy, last year’s best performing asset classes are the worst this year.

For the month of the April, the Major indexes are as follows:

4.99% - S&P 500 - (8.59% YTD)

4.36% - NASDAQ - (16.82% YTD)

5.26% - DOW JONES - (2.87% YTD)

To me, one of the biggest shockers of April is that the VIX spent the whole month below 20.

Many of us money managers use the Volatility Index (VIX), to judge how much “fear” is priced into the markets.

When the market is over 20, it means there is a lot of fear and the market may move quickly in either direction.

When it’s below 20, the market tends to move with less highs and lows and becomes a little more predictable.

I don’t recall the last time we have spent a month under 20 since Covid hit.

So, as a money nerd, I am excited to see the VIX under 20 for the whole month.

We will see if we can get two months with the VIX below 20. (fingers crossed)

This week has a lot to look forward to.

We are still in “earnings season” and we also have the “Fed” making a decision on future interest rates on Wednesday.

The consensus is that they will continue raising rates by 25 basis points.

We also have the April unemployment numbers coming out this Friday (as they always do on the first Friday of each month).

So, hopefully, we can continue this momentum into May and keep the upward trajectory.

Stay confident my friends!

-Kevin T Clark, RF

Kevin T Clark, RF™ is the CEO and Co-founder of Plan Confidence Corporation (PCC). Kevin is also an ERISA Nerd and one of only a hundred Dalbar certified Registered Fiduciaries (RF) in the United States. He has been helping hard working Americans invest their money for over 25 years!

PCC is an SEC registered investment firm specializing in providing advice to hard-working Americans investing in their employer’s retirement plans (401k, 403b, TSP, etc).