FROM STOCKS TO CRYPTO, A PUNISHING SIX MONTHS
Investors experience a bear market and the worst start to a year since 1970
Americans with stock portfolios or retirement investment plans would likely prefer to forget the last six months.
The S&P 500, Wall Street’s broad benchmark for many stock funds, closed the first half of 2022 with a loss of more than 20 percent after starting the year at an all-time high. It’s the worst start to a year since 1970, when Apple and Microsoft had yet to be founded.
Investors have been grappling with uncertainty and fear this year following a sharp rise in interest rates as the Federal Reserve and other central banks scrambled to tame the highest inflation in more than 40 years. Higher rates can bring down inflation, but they also slow the economy, raising the risk of a recession. That’s helped drag down the value of stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies and other investments.
On June 13, the S&P 500 tumbled into a bear market, dropping more than 20 percent below the record high it set early this year. It’s now 21.1 percent below that Jan. 3 all-time high, back to where it was in early
March of last year.
The Fed has been at the center of the market’s downturn, raising its key short-term interest rates three time this year. Its most recent increase earlier this month was triple the usual amount and its biggest hike since 1994. More outsized increases are almost certain.
“You can argue that they’re just playing the hand they were dealt, but the reality is they got caught a little bit behind the curve and their pivot toward a much more aggressive policy stance has been the reason the
to providers and choice for power supply products that will increase the percent of renewables that are procured on behalf of North San Diego County customers,” CEA chief executive officer Barbara Bosley said.
Clean Energy Alliance is one of 23 community choice aggregators, or CCAs, that have sprung up across the state in recent years. The programs were created by the Legislature to encourage the growth of renewable energy and offer competition to traditional investorowned utilities like SDG&E.
Under the CCA model, the decisions to buy powerpurchase power contracts for things like solar, battery and wind energy become the responsibility of the local government officials that join a community energy program.
Utilities do not go away, though. They still perform all their other duties outside of power purchases — such as maintaining poles, wires and power lines in their respective transmission and distribution systems, plus handling customer services, such as billing.
Clean Energy Alliance offers customers three different energy programs — Clean Impact, with a portfolio
of 50 percent renewable power sources; Clean Impact Plus, with 75 percent coming from carbon-free sources; and Green Impact, with power purchase contracts that pencil out to 100 percent renewable.
While energy rates vary with time, CEA officials estimated that Vista customers’ average monthly bills could run roughly $1 to $3 cheaper than SDG&E’s, depending on the program each customer selects. SDG&E’s default rate has an energy portfolio that uses 31 percent renewables.
As per state rules, customers in Vista and Oceanside will be automatically enrolled into the Clean Energy
Alliance but if customers want to remain with SDG&E, they can opt out for free.
Vista will eventually account for 13 percent of the energy load among CEA’s members. Oceanside, the largest city in North County, will account for 23 percent.
CEA may further expand to include an eighth municipality when the City Council in San Clemente meets next month to discuss whether to join. While San Clemente is located in Orange County, it is in San Diego Gas & Electric’s service territory.