Author: Aileen Beno-Lietz

The losses mounted last month as all five indices ended lower for September. The nearly five percent loss in the S&P 500 locked in the greatest monthly loss for the year.

Last week, the FOMC met and reaffirmed the current target range for the Fed Funds Rate. However, one of the developments from this meeting was the guidance for interest rates in 2024. The FOMC released an update to their dot plot which saw median estimates for next year shift from 4.6 percent in June to 5.1 percent, effectively holding these interest rates at this elevated level well into next year.

In commodities, Crude Oil continued to climb higher, back toward the trailing 12-month high. The price per barrel of WTI Crude Oil Futures closed the week at $90.77. This continued rise in oil prices worried some market analysts as energy prices are a significant component of the Consumer Price Index.

At the sector level, only two segments managed to close higher last week. These were Energy and Utilities. These two somewhat related sectors were fueled by gains in Crude Oil as the GSCI Crude Oil Index rose another 2.4 percent for the week.

Economic news was mixed last week. Existing homes sales came back slightly below estimates, while new home sales slightly exceeded them. The housing market continues to be impacted by a reduced inventory of homes as well as higher interest rates.
As of Thursday, Freddie Mac reported that the 30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average in the United States hit a 22-year high at 7.23 percent. The last time that the 30-year fixed rate was this high was in June of 2001.