MidSouth Week in Review
February 3, 2023

Weekly Update from Fund Manager Buzz Heidtke, MidSouth Investment Fund

The S&P rose 1.7% for the week and its Thursday high was the highest level since August.  The NASD was the worst performing index last year but is the best with a 10% return in January.  The Dow was the best performer last year but is the worst this year.  Gold made a 9-month high.  The Fed raised interest rates by 0.25% with two more quarter-point rate hikes expected this year.  Tesla rose 95% from its January low.  Wholesale gas declined 15% from its January high.  The economy added 517,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate was 3.4%.  Bitcoin hit $24,000.  Nearly one-third of home purchases in October were all-cash deals.  Sources:  Wall Street Journal and New York Times

Bull Markets – The stock market was up 6.2% in January.  There have been only two other instances since WWII (1967 and 1975) when the S&P gained more than 5% in January.  In 1967, the S&P gained 11.3% the rest of the year and  in 1975 it gained 17.2% - Hemanth Kumar

Retail Purchases – have fallen in three of the past four months.  Spending on services, including rent, haircuts and the bulk of bills, was flat in December, after adjusting for inflation, the worst monthly reading in nearly a year.  Sales of existing homes in the U.S. fell last year to their lowest level since 2014 – Wall Street Journal

Can You Afford Not To Own Common Stocks – In 1927, if you had put $1,000 in each of the following investments and the money had compounded tax-free, 60 years later they would have grown to:  T-bills $7,400, government bonds $13,200, corporate bonds $17,600 and common stocks $272,000 – Peter Lynch

The World Population – 26% live less than 14 years, 66% die between 15 and 64 years of age and only 8% live past 65.  The world population is around 7.9 billion – Hutch Hammond

Undeveloped Land Price Changes – Year-over-year Northern California -30%, Southwest -24%, Northwest -21%, Northeast -4%, Southeast +4% - John Burns Real Estate Consulting

Cigarettes – Americans pinched by inflation, are smoking less and switching to cheaper cigarettes.  Altria, the largest U.S. cigarette maker had their sales volume decline 12% last quarter.  A pack of Marlboro cost on average of $8.46, including taxes – Wall Street Journal

Retirement – Over two-thirds (69%) of non-retired investors may work or continue working after they retire, and more than two-fifths (44%) say they’ll have to work to supplement their retirement savings or income out of necessity – Advisor Authority

Lack of Help – Walgreens said it was operating its thousands of pharmacy stores on reduced hours because of staffing shortages.  Walmart plans to reduce pharmacy hours by closing at 7 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. at most of its stores – Wall Street Journal

No Money – 2 of 3 Americans couldn’t cover an emergency $400 expense without using credit cards or a loan vs. a prior year ago when 68% could cover a $400 emergency with cash – SecureSave

Hawaiians – lead the nation in life expectancy rankings, according to a new study and can expect to live 80.7 years, 8.8 years longer than the average person in Mississippi, which ranked last.

Ouch! – Americans lost a record $55 billion in casinos and on mobile-gaming apps in the first 11 months of 2022, 13.5% more than in 2021, even before the December numbers have been tallied - Forbes

Public Schools – Students in public elementary and middle school students lost the equivalent of a half-year of learning math and 6% were in districts that lost more than a full year.  Standardized math test scores in 2022 showed the largest drop ever recorded – New York Times

Guns – were the leading cause of death among Americans younger than 24 last year – CDC

Computers – The first “automatic digital computer” was constructed at Harvard in 1944 with a grant of $5 million from IBM.  The machine had 760,000 parts, 500 miles of wire and took four seconds to deliver simple multiplication, even for simple division.  Also, it was frequently idled by mechanical problems – Barrington Boardman

Cancer Deaths – fell by nearly a third between 1991 and 2019, thanks to screening, early diagnosis, advances in treatments and a decline in smoking – American Cancer Society

Flash Back - https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnXvyg8JcCA/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

Tina Turner - https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cnzy3YAoeq8/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

Elvis - https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cm9P-K-qyjg/?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 indices.