MidSouth Week in Review
December 2, 2022

Weekly Update from Fund Manager Buzz Heidtke, MidSouth Investment Fund

The S&P rose 1% for the week and is up 16% from its October low.  Stock futures dropped this morning because 263,000 jobs were added in November vs. the 200,000 expectation, creating further pressure on inflation gains.  Tesla reached a 56% low from its recent high.  Home prices declined for the third straight month.  Consumer confidence declined to 100.2 vs. 102.2 in October.  The markets had a big Wednesday rally after the Fed signaled an announcement of a potential slowdown in interest rate increases.  The yields on the 5, 10 and 30-year Treasury bonds all dropped below 3.67%.  U.S. crude fell below $80 vs. $130 in March.  The Dollar declined to 104.5 from 114.7 in September.  Gold hit a 3-month high.  Sources:  Wall Street Journal and New York Times

Good News – Since 1950 there have been eight negative mid-term years and the market is down 15.2% this mid-term year.  However, the years following the negative election year returns were all positive with an average return of 24.6% - Carson

Lonely? – If you think nobody cares, if you’re alive, try missing a couple of house payments – Earl Wilson

The Select Seven – helped boost the S&P to record highs and now they are dragging it down.  The Select Seven include: Apple, Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Tesla and Netflix.  Last year they returned 36.3%.  This year the same seven are down 32% - Washington Post

Audit Rates – The IRS now audits about 2% of individuals reporting incomes of $1 million or more, 6% of large C corporations with total assets of at least $10 million, and 0.1% of partnerships and S corporations.  Compare this with audit rates of 8.4%, 16.6% and 0.4% in 2010 for these same groups of taxpayers – The Kiplinger Tax Letter

Sign of the Times – We got a nice Christmas card in early December signed from the boys at the parking garage, then two weeks later got another Christmas card from the boys stamped “second notice”!

Email-Based Scams – are on the rise.  With billions of emails sent globally each day, it’s no wonder that email compromise has become one of the largest and most financially damaging online crimes.  In an email-based scam, fraudsters send an email that appears to come from a known or reputable source with a legitimate request, such as updating a mailing address or payment instructions – Charles Schwab

December – Only once (2018) since 1928 has the month of December been the worst performing month of the year – Carson …..The worst month is August with 12 years as the worst performing month.

1983 – “Home mortgage rates slipped to average 12.73%, lowest in 33 months”. – Wall Street Journal headlines, May 6, 1983

Weight Loss – Mounjaro has been shown to lead weight loss when used to treat adults with diabetes, alongside diet and exercise.  While not currently approved for weight loss, participants have lost between 12 lbs. and 25 lbs. on average.  If you are interested in losing weight, you might want to talk with your doctor about a prescription – Drugs.com

Ouch! – U.S. median house payments have risen 46.3% vs. 28.6% in August of 2020 – COMPOUND

Crazy – The yield on the 3-month Treasury bill is now 4.2%, which is now 0.73% higher than the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond – William Gordon

Life Insurance Payouts – in the U.S. hit a record $100 billion+ in 2021, rising 11%, following a 15% jump in 2020, with Covid being the primary culprit – The Hustle ….. The year-over-year increases are among the largest since the 1918 flu pandemic, when payments surged 41% - Wall Street Journal

Mortgages – The rates dropped to 6.61% last week vs. 7.08% the previous week.  Mortgage apps have declined 46% vs. a year ago when rates were at 3.10% - Yahoo Finance ….. Most of the mortgage market is refinancing.  Nobody is refinancing now because of the high mortgage rates – Credit Karma

Heating Costs – are expected to jump by 28% on average to $931 – Department of Energy …..  Retail natural gas heating expenditures are expected to increase 25% and electricity bills to rise 11%.  Households using heating oil are expected to see expenditures to rise 45% this winter – Wall Street Journal

Porch Pirates – Over the past 12 months, 260 million packages worth $19.5 billion were stolen by porch pirates – SafeWise

Great Dancers - https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkSCMtWgoFw/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

The material was prepared by MidSouth Investment Management LLC, and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates.  This information has been derived from sources believed to be accurate.  Please note – investing involves risk, and past performance is no guarantee of future results.  The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services.  If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional.  This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any Federal tax penalty.  This is neither a solicitation nor recommendation to purchase or sell any investment or insurance product or service, and should not be relied upon as such.  This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events, or a guarantee of future results.  Investments will fluctuate and when redeemed may be worth more or less than when originally invested.  All economic and performance data is historical and not indicative of future results.  Market indices discussed are unmanaged.  Investors cannot invest in unmanaged indice