brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 Housing starts declined 1% last month to a 1.311 million annual rate, missing consensus expectations of 1.334 million for October. A 9% fall in single-family construction drove total starts lower, as multi-family starts rose in the month. Building in the South (the region […]

brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 The NFIB Small Business Confidence index rose by 2 points to 93.7, matching its highest level since early 2022. Nine out of ten components improved with a significant 7-point rise in the outlook for business conditions, nearing a net-positive reading for the first […]

brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) released its October services purchasing managers' index (PMI). The headline composite index came in at 56.0, better than the forecast of 53.8. The latest reading moves the index back into expansion territory for the 50th time in […]

brought to you by Phil Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index reached a nine-month high of 7, easily beating consensus expectations of 99.5. This marked the largest monthly gain since March 2021 as higher stock and home prices, along with a more accommodative Federal Reserve (Fed) helped increase […]

brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 New home sales increased 4.1% month-over-month in September to an annualized rate of 738,000, which beat consensus This marked the largest monthly gain since last year. Sales have risen 6.3% compared to a year ago. Declining mortgage rates leading up to the Fed’s […]

brought to you by Phil Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 Retail sales rose 4% in September, beating consensus expectations of a 0.3% increase for the month. Retail sales are up 7% in the last year. “Core” sales, excluding the often-volatile categories of autos, building materials, and gas stations, rose 8% in September and […]

brought to you by Phil Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report revealed headline inflation was hotter than expected on both a month over month (MoM) and year over year (YoY) basis, rising 0.2% and 2.4%, respectively. The YoY reading declined compared to last month, but it was […]

Living the realities of risk and reward. Asset allocation is important because it helps investors manage the risk and rewards of investing. In general, investments have different levels of risk and the potential return (or reward) for taking that level of risk is a higher return. For example, investing in stocks typically has greater risk […]

The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index hit a new all-time high last week. The S&P 500 has had quite a year. Despite a sharp downturn in August when investor confidence was ruffled by concerns about economic growth, the Index was up about 20 percent, year-to-date, at the end of last week. The gains were […]