Welcome to a new month, a new quarter, and the second half of the year 2022, not to mention a long weekend for those of you who are in the U.S.

It’s the 4th of July weekend, which usually means barbeques, hot dogs, hamburgers, watermelon, and other summer foods.

Of course, this year, those summer foods – not to mention traveling to buy and/or enjoy them – are a heck of a lot pricier than they were last year. And last year, inflation was on everyone’s minds.

Just not to the same degree.

I hate to be a downer, but we’re also dealing with the worst January-June period the market has seen since 1970. That’s a 50-year record we’ve broken!

As MarketWatch wrote last night:

“This bear has claws. A bear market that began on the first trading day of 2022 drove down the S&P 500 for its worst first six months to a calendar year in 52 years as investors head into the second half fearing aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks could tip the economy into recession.

“The S&P 500… fell 20.6% year-to-date through Thursday’s close, marking its biggest first-half decline since a 21.1% fall in 1970, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The large-cap benchmark is down 21.1% from its record finish om Jan. 3. The index earlier this month first ended more than 20% below that early January record, confirming that the pandemic bull market – as widely defined – had ended on Jan. 3, marking the start of a bear.”

Now, as that article and others have noted, this doesn’t automatically spell doom for the next six months. The last five times the market has fallen this badly January-June, it’s bounced back by an average of 23.66%.

And one of those times included 1932 during the Great Depression.

Then again, with the way the last two and a half years have gone? Well, I think we can all agree that anything can happen from here.  

More Non-REIT News to Know About 

As we all know by now, some of the worst-hit stocks this year have been big tech. Those former darlings are suffering intense declines, including Netflix (NFLX).

That company was previously deemed “essential,”, especially during the shutdowns. Yet consumers are apparently changing their tune, realizing it’s a luxury after all.

In order to combat that switch, the streaming service has decided to turn to ads – despite how the lack of commercials is a large part of what made it so popular to begin with.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told the Cannes Lions advertising festival last week that he’s “adding an ad tier. We’re not adding ads to Netflix as you know it today. We’re adding an ad tier for folks who say, ‘Hey! I want a lower price and I’ll watch ads.’”

Will that work? Sarandos appears largely optimistic, explaining that, “There are nearly unlimited options for both consumers and marketers to connect with audiences.” Though he did admit “that’s a blessing and a curse” since:

“… it’s a complicated market with lots of players. So it’s more challenging to aggregate reach and aggregate scale.”

I will end this segment by saying, “Oh how the mighty have fallen.”

Of course, the mighty can climb back up again. That’s still a very real possibility. But considering the inflationary environment we’re in right now, where everyone is having to cut costs in order to make ends meet – and ends “meat” – it might be doomed to lackluster results for a while longer.

The World According to REITs 

I know we already discussed how the markets fared in the first half of the year. But I do want to specifically mention how June just didn’t want to end quietly.

In nearly every market sector, major stocks sold off, including real estate investment trusts (REITs). Though there were a few notable exceptions.

This included Iron Mountain (IRM), which gained about a point through yesterday’s treacherous trading hours. My regular readers know I’m usually a fan of this company, and so I’m taking the opportunity to talk about it again today. 

For decades, Iron Mountain was known as the physical data storage company companies and governments could trust. It could secure important documents from not only theft but also decay.

Now that we’re solidly in the digital age though, the REIT is expanding into data center ownership. And it’s doing quite well for itself in the process:

• Reporting $4.2 billion in revenue in the last 12 months
• Sporting a $21 billion valuation
• Offering a 5.08% dividend yield with consistent dividend increases. 

With so many high-powered customers who rely on it for data storage space, data protection, shredding, consumer storage, and beyond… I don’t see Iron Mountain suffering too badly in the coming months even if things do continue to go south from here.

Author’s Note: If you do determine this stock is right for you, make sure to purchase it at a smart entry point. Even the best of companies can burn you badly by buying in at inflated prices.