The stock market has experienced a challenging 2022 due to geopolitical headwinds, high inflation, and the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes. With the central bank raising interest rates to the highest level since 2008, inflation showed signs of cooling off in the last three months of 2022.
The consumer price index (CPI) fell for the sixth consecutive month in December. It increased 6.5% year-over-year and declined 0.1% sequentially. Although progress has been made in bringing inflation down from its high of 9.1% year-over-year rise in June, minutes from the Fed’s policy meeting show that the central bank remains committed to bringing inflation down to its 2% target. So, a pause in interest rate hikes is highly unlikely this year.
