brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist HEADLINES: ISRAEL-IRAN CONFLICT After Israel struck nuclear facilities and military leadership in Iran, the two Middle Eastern countries exchanged barrages of missiles over the weekend. This followed a stalemate in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran regarding the latter’s nuclear program. After multiple days of […]

brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing index for May registered 48.5, falling short of the 49.3 consensus and indicating a third straight month of contraction in the industrial sector. A reading above 50 signals expansion, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction. […]

brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index in May exceeded expectations and rose to a reading of 98. Consumer confidence increased after five consecutive months of declining readings stemming from uncertainty around potential impacts on prices and the economy from tariffs. In the latest […]

brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 Existing home sales for April showed a slight decline of -0.5% month-over-month (MoM) as the annual rate of sales fell to 4.0 million per year. Existing home sales have fallen steadily since 2022. As mortgage rates have risen, homeowners have been unwilling to […]

brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 The Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in below expectations despite higher tariffs in April, notching the lowest annual reading since the inflation surge began in early 2021. Headline inflation increased 0.2% last month but lagged expectations for the third consecutive reading. Core inflation, […]

brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Services PMI for April came in at 51.6, surpassing expectations of 50.2 and up from March’s reading of 50.8 (a nine-month low). The current reading indicated stronger than anticipated levels of expansion in the US services sector. […]

brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell to 86.0 in April, below expectations of 87.0 and below March’s reading of 93.9. The decline continues a trend that began earlier this year and likely accelerated as the potential impact of tariffs on prices and […]

brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 The Leading Economic Indicators (LEI), which are a group of 10 economic data points that, outside of recent years, have been effective at projecting future growth, fell further into contraction, dropping 0.7% in March. The index is heavily weighted in the manufacturing sector, […]

brought to you by Philip Blancato, Osaic's Chief Market Strategist ECONOMIC REVIEW1 Retail sales rose a substantial 1.4% in March – the largest monthly increase in more than two years – easily surpassing the median forecast (1.2%) and February’s figure (0.2%), which was revised higher. Sales of autos (5.3%) and building materials (3.3%) led category […]