What, me worry? About this time last year, Time Magazine reported on anxiety in America. Almost 40 percent of Americans reported being more anxious than they were the previous year. The performance of stock and bond markets this summer may have pushed those numbers higher. Last week finally brought some relief. It was the best […]
Have you ever watched a lake in a thunderstorm? Heavy rain pummels the surface. Dark clouds drop the sky closer to the water. Gusty winds crash waves ashore. Up top, on land, damage may occur. Underneath, in the deeper water, things often remain pretty much the same. Last week’s stock market volatility was like a […]
Don’t let volatility get you down. Last week was the 40th anniversary of BusinessWeek’s infamous cover headline: ‘The Death of Equities: How inflation is destroying the stock market.’ The publication’s current iteration, Bloomberg Businessweek, reported it is still getting grief over the headline and subsequent bull market. In its defense, stocks trended lower for about […]
Global selloff. Quick comeback. Investors boomeranged from stocks to safe havens and back as trade tensions between the United States and China intensified last week. The Economist reported: “On August 1st President Donald Trump warned that he would soon impose a 10 percent levy on roughly $300bn-worth of Chinese goods that have not already been […]
Tariffs strike again. The Federal Open Market Committee completed what it called ‘a mid-cycle adjustment’ with a quarter-point rate cut last week. Some investors were unhappy when Fed officials implied there would not be another reduction this year. They’d been hoping for at least one, reported Barron’s. Despite the disappointment, investors settled and U.S. stock […]
It has been said there are two sides to every story. Just look at world financial markets. Stock markets and bond markets are telling very different stories. In the United States, stock markets were blue ribbon winners last week. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rebounded to a record high. The Nasdaq Composite also set […]
The Markets Did last week mark the start of a new policy for the Federal Reserve? The U.S. Federal Reserve has a reputation for providing little transparency about the timing and direction of potential rate changes. That reputation was challenged last week. In back-to-back speeches, two of the three most influential members of the Federal […]
The bulls are running. Last week, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index set a new record, closing above 3,000 for the first time. Other major U.S. stock indices also finished at record highs, reported Barron’s. Company fundamentals, investor sentiment, and geopolitics all have the power to push stock prices higher. However, according to Financial Times, […]
What will the Federal Reserve do now? There was unexpected economic news last week. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced 224,000 new jobs were added in June, which was more than analysts had anticipated. The gains were offset a bit by reductions in April and May employment estimates. However, overall, the pace of […]