Equities fell on Friday following comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that the Federal Reserve plans to keep raising interest rates to bring down inflation. The S&P 500 was -4.0% for the week, the Dow was -4.2%, and the NASDAQ was -4.8%. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield increased to 3.087% at Friday’s …
Housing Developments
After a strong, four-week run, the market retreated last week. Weakness in housing market data, a mixed set of earnings from retailers, and commentary in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes from July may have given some investors pause on where the economy goes from here. The S&P 500 was -1.2% for …
Flattening Prices
Markets rose last week as investors viewed the July Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) reports as a sign the pace of inflation has peaked. The S&P 500 was +3.3% for the week, the Dow was +3.0%, and the NASDAQ was +2.7%. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield increased to 2.849% …
Summer Jobs
The S&P 500 Index had a third consecutive weekly increase, though more muted than the previous two weeks. The S&P 500 was 0.4% for the week, the Dow was -0.1%, and the NASDAQ was +2.0%. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield increased to 2.840% at Friday’s close versus 2.642% the previous week. Continued strength …
Dog Days
The S&P 500 Index had its first back-to-back weekly gain since the end of March. The S&P 500 Index was +4.3% for the week, the Dow was +3.0%, and the NASDAQ was +4.5%. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield decreased to 2.642% at Friday’s close versus 2.781% the previous week. The market shrugged off …
The End of the Beginning
The equity markets put together back-to-back winning weeks as the economy and COVID-19 news is less worse than it was potentially forecast to be just a few weeks ago. The curve appears to be flattening on COVID, select parts of the U.S. are set to be opened this month, and most of the early …
Looking Under the Hood
Global equity markets had a strong recovery rally last week as scenarios begin to firm up of when the COVID-19 peaks in various countries and the global economy begins to re-open. While the social and economic recovery is likely to last several months or longer, the financial markets tend to anticipate outcomes and a …
Waiting on Normal
The equity market gave back some of its recent gains last week, but volatility also decreased which we view as a welcome signal relative to the higher levels of volatility we’ve seen over the past few weeks. Uncertain timing on a return to normalcy in society and the economy is likely to weigh on …
In Like a Lion and Out Like a Lamb
The S&P 500 closed out its best first quarter since 2009. The quarter came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. The giant January rebound (+8.0%) stepped down to more normal returns in February (+3.2%) and March (+1.9%). The quarterly gain almost erased the steep decline from the fourth quarter of …