Third Quarter Beats Expectations
The U.S. economy continues to hold up better than many expected it would. Third quarter GDP projections are strong, despite a struggling stock market.
Like the U.S., other developed international economies have also been subject to recent rate hiking from central banks. Rising food and energy prices as well as strong wage growth are also factors.
Equity markets retraced some of their previous gains during the past quarter but are still positive for the year as a whole. Bond indexes also had a rough quarter because of the continued increase in interest rates. Commodities were the only major asset class to buck the trend. The Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index rebounded with a 4.71% gain in the third quarter, but it is still down 3.44% for the year so far.
Positive inflation data could spark new market optimism should the Fed begin to show signs of becoming more accommodative soon.
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