Bespoke’s Consumer Pulse Report — December 2023

Dec 7, 2023

Bespoke’s Consumer Pulse Report is an analysis of a huge consumer survey that we run each month.  Our goal with this survey is to track trends across the economic and financial landscape in the US.  Using the results from our proprietary monthly survey, we dissect and analyze all of the data and publish the Consumer Pulse Report, which we sell access to on a subscription basis.  Sign up for a 30-day free trial to our Bespoke Consumer Pulse subscription service.  With a trial, you’ll get coverage of consumer electronics, social media, streaming media, retail, autos, and much more.  The report also has numerous proprietary US economic data points that are extremely timely and useful for investors.

We’ve just released our most recent monthly report to Pulse subscribers, and it’s definitely worth the read if you’re curious about the health of the consumer in the current market environment.  Start a 30-day free trial for a full breakdown of all of our proprietary Pulse economic indicators.

Sideways

Dec 5, 2023

The S&P 500 Equalweight index, which gives each stock in the index an equal 0.2% weighting, is currently trading at the same level it was at back in April 2021.  Investors used to getting the standard 8-10% per year in the US stock market have gotten far less than that over the last two and a half years.

Below is a five-year price chart of the S&P 500 Equalweight index showing the sideways range it has been in for the last few years.

The spread between the S&P 500 Equalweight’s highest and lowest closing price over the last three years currently stands at 31%.  As shown below, 31% is an extremely low 3-year high/low range; well below the average of 75.5% seen across all rolling 3-year periods going back to 1992.  The tight spread now, though, comes after a period in which the high/low range had gotten well above its historical average.  And the pendulum continues to swing…