The Roundup
Quarter in Review – Q3 2024
The third quarter of 2024 saw a continuation of strong equity returns, but with a noticeable difference: the Magnificent 7 (MSFT, AMZN, META, APPL, GOOG, NVDA, TSLA) began to show signs of weakness, relative to the broader market, as the Federal Reserve decided to join with Canada by initiating their first cut in interest rates.
Leading up to this cut, the markets were locked into an oscillating cycle of decrying the Fed for waiting too long to begin cutting (and thereby increasing the chances of a recession) and fretting over the relative strength of the US economy, keeping inflation high, and delaying cuts. By September, the FOMC (Federal Open Markets Committee) had accumulated enough supportive data and moved its benchmark rate 0.50% lower to support the labor market.
