Recap of 2023

What a difference a year makes.  This is from last year's recap: “Stocks [in 2022] had their worst year since 2008.  The possibility of a coming recession was the main cause of investors’ pessimism.”  In the year just ended, we saw nothing even close to an economic downturn proving the expert forecasters wrong again for the umpteenth time.  Instead, the U.S. economy experienced solid growth with low unemployment and diminishing inflation (a.k.a. disinflation).  Despite taking a breather during the third quarter, the stock market rallied throughout most of the year.  For 2023, the S&P 500 Index gained 24.2 percent due primarily to outstanding returns in the Information Technology and Communications Services sectors.

Among the lagging sectors in 2023 were Healthcare, Consumer Staples, and Utilities.  At current prices, these conservative stocks represent good value and may well show superior performance in the coming year compared to the high-flying tech stocks.

1 January 2024