Down Day

In this buzz: Bitcoin; Jamie Dimon; Amazon Layoffs; P&G; Charles Schwab and more …

• Stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday after a positive, though brief, start to the session.
• Weighing on equities are fears: of inflation, of recession or the debt ceiling, earnings… you name it, traders are worried about it.

Sprinkle in the tidbits from Davos like Jamie D’s prediction that rates will rise above 5% because there is “still a lot of underlying inflation.”
It doesn’t help that P&G missed earnings expectations as it couldn’t pass along higher prices to consumers. This is one of the big concerns investors have been watching; how long consumer could sustain spending in the face of higher prices. An inability to pass along costs is a red flag spending-wise.

Bitcoin:
Speaking of Jamie, apparently Bitcoin is back to being a hyped-up fraud. It almost had him for a minute, but our boy is back to being bearish on crypto. In other news, Bank of America “double downgrades” Charles Schwab. Is this like Dean Wormer’s “double-secret probation” in Animal House? I digress.

More Layoffs:
Layoffs continue in the tech sector. Amazon is even discontinuing a charity program in the name of cost cutting. It’s shocking. If Amazon is known for two things, it’s charity and great working conditions…not that you can order Glide picks and they’ll be delivered before you can make it to the door.

Strap in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.