February 2023 Monthly Recap

Talking Points

  • Inflation continued to slow from 6.5% to 6.4%, but was above expectations and caused concern it may linger for longer

  • The US economy unexpectedly added 517,000 jobs, well above the 185,000 forecast, pointing to a tight labor market

  • Consumer spending rebounded 1.8%, the largest increase in nearly two years, shaking off back-to-back negative months

  • The 10-year Treasury yield spiked higher from 3.52% to 3.92% as disappointing inflation could point to more rate hikes

  • Housing starts fell to the lowest level since June 2020 missing expectations as higher rates continue to cool the market

Market Health Indicator*

Market Data
market health indicator monthly index performance

*The Market Health Indicator is a monthly indicator created in September 2021 that is designed to measure market health on a scale of 0 - 100, analyzing various market segments such as economics, technicals, and volatility using data back to January of 2000. Higher scores indicate healthier market conditions.

  

Fun Facts

Verified Subscription

•    While March is the best month for basketball (March Madness), it’s the worst for worker productivity. The tournament is estimated to cost employers $4 billion.

•    This year’s Super Bowl was the second-most-watched ever, behind only 2015 when the Patriots beat the Seahawks. 

•    Who’s ready to make a fashion statement? March 11 is International Fanny Pack Day!

•    Don’t forget to “spring forward” and set your clocks one hour ahead on March 12!
 

You get a verified subscription, you get a verified subscription, everybody gets a verified sub-scription!

Social media giants are pulling their best Oprah impression, rolling out new verified subscrip-tion services. Meta (Facebook) recently announced users of its platform can pay $12 per month to gain a blue checkmark and achieve “verified” status. A couple months prior, Twitter launched a similar option for users who pay $8 per month.

So why is everybody jumping on the subscription bandwagon? These moves are a way to di-versify income streams. In 2022, over 90% of revenue for Meta and Twitter came from adver-tising (that’s a lot of eggs in one basket). With economic uncertainties persisting, the compa-nies worry there could be a slowdown in advertisement spending on their platforms.
 
   
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