Goldilocks in Trouble? Or Just April Showers? – May 2024 Commentary

What child doesn’t know the story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”? In the classic fairytale, Goldilocks explores the home of three Bears who are out for a walk. In the story, Goldilocks created some problems for the Bear family; breaking a chair, sampling and eating all of another bears’ breakfast. She is ultimately found asleep in one of the bear’s beds but manages to quickly escape out the window and avoid disciplinary consequences for her trespass. Much like enjoying porridge of a perfect temperature, investors experienced attractive advance in their investments during Q1 of 2024 due to an economic landscape that seemed “just right”: lower inflation and a resilient economy. It was believed these favorable dynamics would permit the Federal Reserve to not only stop raising interest rates but cut them multiple times in 2024, bringing relief to those with elevated debt before any painful “discipline” was experienced.Continue reading