the uncertainty of suspension bridges

Uncertainty is the name of the game

Market Ethos.
17 October 2022

Last Wednesday, if you somehow had a premonition that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was NOT going to show signs of cooling but instead surprise to the upside to bring core CPI to its highest annual pace in four decades, you would have expected markets to tumble on Thursday.

And you would have been right until about 11 a.m., when markets didn’t just get back to breakeven, but went on to post strong gains. The S&P 500 intraday range from the lows in the morning to the highs at the close was about 5%. The biggest angst for the markets this year has surely been the path and stickiness of inflation, so it befuddles the mind to make sense of Thursday’s market reaction, even with Friday giving back some of the gains.

Related articles

Market Ethos

Hedging the bubble

13 October 2026. Market Ethos. Is your portfolio leaning into the AI bubble? Bonds might not be a diversifier on a week-to-week or month-to-month basis,…

2 minute read

Market Ethos

Turning up the heat

28 September 2026. Market Ethos. Yields are up and markets don’t seem to be bothered, mainly because this yield move is being driven by the…

2 minute read

Market Ethos

Bullion meets Bitcoin

21 September 2026. Market Ethos. Perhaps the biggest commonality between gold and Bitcoin is its confusing behaviour. That may just be the reason they are…

2 minute read