Market volatility now could be just market noise

THE S&P 500 index, which tracks the 500 largest listed companies by market capitalisation in the United States, has had a lacklustre run in 2022 so far.

Since hitting a high of 4,818.62 on Jan 4, 2022, the index has declined 12.4 per cent to a low of 4,222.62 on Jan 24, 2022. After a brief rebound, the index made another down leg to reach a low of 4,114.65 on Feb 24, 2022.

The poor performance can be attributed to various factors, themost prominient being the persistently high inflation which led to worries of a faster and larger than expected withdrawal of monetary stimulus by the Federal Reserve.