NEW YORK — U.S. stocks drifted around their record heights Thursday following the latest signals that the U.S. economy continues to hum. Despite showing signs of a slowdown, the American economy has displayed remarkable resilience in the face of rising inflation and a prolonged recovery. The robust performance of the stock market is a testament to the economic indicator which has many investors optimistic about the future.
One of the primary drivers behind the current growth pattern is the consistent and remarkable performance of the tech sector. Several major players in the tech industry, including cloud computing giants and semiconductor manufacturers, have shown excellent results and delivered solid profits. Thanks to this recovery period, their respective stocks have gained and brought the market with them to the highest it has ever been in history.
Yet another driving factor is falling unemployment rates. The U.S. unemployment rate has been consistent at sub-4 percent and rising at a moderate pace the way it has been year over year. Labor shortages, particularly in emerging markets, have continued putting pressure on investors to pay wage hikes in order to attract and retain their skilled labor, and so have attracted even more investors from out-of-town.
Increased market activity can partly be attributed to renewed global investor and consumer confidence over an aggressive, decade-long effort to reinvigorate international demand through fiscal, regulatory, and accommodative monetary policy. Nonetheless, potential economic headwinds still threaten future growth.
Of interest for investors, on Thursday U.S. new single-family home sales were reported to have seen a 7.5% dip month-over-month from revised and robust growth for July that reflected large increase expectations that had been forecast in August. According to most of the analysis from current and past sales reports overall rising sales trends seem largely unaffected and is indeed expected to significantly continue from increasing momentum throughout.
Those looking to profit from the growth are at a point where caution may be warranted. Despite market strengths, rising wage costs tied to labor shortages as well as increasingly high interest rates could impact equity prices. Traders remain optimistic that inflation pressures are going to remain under control and that the cost of both production and consumer goods is not far over rising output prices overall.