What the stock market has taught us this year: traps to avoid

Traders at work on the New York Stock Exchange floor. (Image: AP)

Tue, 26 Dec 2023

By Mellody Hobson and John RogersThe uncertainty around near-term interest rates has dominated the story of the stock market in 2023. Perhaps not since the 1970s – when runaway inflation and sky-high interest rates were the crisis du jour – has monetary policy affected investment outcomes in such a pronounced way.Yet, look more closely, and it would seem that Wall Street has been more influenced by perception than reality: Company and individual balance sheets remain mostly healthy, businesses are battle tested and unemployment rema...

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