This has been a one-of-a-kind year for Wall Street and everyday investors. At no point throughout history has the Federal Reserve entered an aggressive rate-hiking cycle with the stock market in a full-fledged correction or bear market. But with the U.S. inflation rate hitting a four-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022, the nation's central bank has had little choice but to tackle its biggest prevailing problem.

This has left investors to make a tough choice: Put their money to work in the stock market with the near-term outlook for the U.S. economy weakening, or sit on cash and have inflation slowly eat away at what they've set aside. Even with the inflation rate set to fall in 2023, it'll still likely to be well above its historic average through much of the year.

Image source: Getty Images.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com