This morning’s inflation data came in pretty much in line with expectations. Headline inflation was up 0.2 percent for the month and 3.2 percent for the year. Core inflation (excluding energy and food) was up 0.2 percent for the month and 4.7 percent for the year. So far, so good. At 0.2 percent per month, that would mean an annual inflation rate of between 2 percent and 3 percent. Pretty good, yes?

Brad here. One of the things we try to do at Commonwealth is look beyond the numbers. Yes, the numbers are what they are—but what do they mean? Here is my colleague Joe Dunn’s take on one of the biggest numbers, gross domestic product, and why it is so important to look deeper. Take it away, Joe!

July was another good month for stocks across the board. The U.S. indices were up in the low single digits, while international markets also did well. Riskier investments like the Nasdaq and emerging markets did best. Fixed income, on the other hand, was much weaker for the month as interest rates rose and the Fed hiked base rates. Financial markets were clearly in a risk-on mode and benefited from riskier investments like tech stocks at the expense of more boring ones.

There was really only one thing that mattered this week: the economy kept growing. I should probably also mention, of course, that the market took a hit. But, as we will see, that likely doesn’t matter. Let’s get into it.

Earlier this week, Fitch Ratings downgraded its credit rating for the U.S. government from AAA to AA+. At first glance, this news sounds like a big deal. After all, aren’t U.S. Treasury securities considered low-risk investments?

There was a lot more data this week than last—and all of it was good. Everything we are seeing suggests that the economy is still growing, despite the headlines and fears. While there are certainly risks out there, the data is showing a resilience that no one expected, and that is a good sign for the future.

With the Fed’s regular meeting scheduled to conclude today, there has been a tremendous amount of commentary around what the Fed is going to do, what it should do, what it might do, and so forth. The consensus is that the Fed will raise rates 25 bps and then signal—something—going forward.

This will be a short post for a couple of reasons. First, there isn’t a ton of news to talk about and nothing really notable. Second, I want to head up to Maine for the weekend to eat lobster rolls and hopefully get some sun. Here’s hoping.

There was one word that mattered this week: inflation. The consumer and producer data reports were released, and they both said the same thing. Inflation is down, significantly. That news took interest rates down and the stock market up. It was a good week from economic and investment standpoints. To understand why, let’s dig in a bit.

What a year it has been for financial markets. There have been several negative factors in play, including a high-single-digit inflation print, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and several regional bank failures. Nonetheless, the S&P 500 finished the second quarter up 17 percent for the year. Go figure!