S&P 500

August 30, 2021 In a speech last week, Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell confirmed that the United States economy has made substantial progress toward the Fed’s maximum employment and price stability goals. His words helped grow recent equity market returns and, consequently, the Fed is likely to slow, and eventually stop, the bond purchases […]

August 23, 2021 The Markets Last week, markets were shaken by a potent cocktail of central bank tapering and economic growth concerns – mixed with coronavirus and a splash of new Chinese privacy law. On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee Meeting minutes were released. They confirmed the Fed could begin tapering –

U.S. GDP in June was nearly $23 trillion, a difficult number to comprehend. Twenty-three trillion dollars would cover Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, West Virginia, and part of South Carolina.

August 9, 2021 The Markets Are we there yet? For months, investors have wondered when the Federal Reserve (Fed) might begin to “normalize” its policies, a process that will, eventually, lead to higher interest rates. Last week, a better-than-expected unemployment report – showing a gain of almost a million jobs – sparked speculation about whether

August 2021 U.S. Markets Last month, the stock market posted a solid gain, overcoming investors’ fears of higher inflation and an increase in COVID-19 cases. The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 1.25 percent, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 2.27 percent. The Nasdaq lagged, climbing 1.16 percent. A Wall of Worry Climbing

August 2, 2021 The Markets The Chinese dragon cast a shadow over free trade and foreign investment last week. For decades, investors have recognized the investment potential of China. Since the country opened to foreign trade and investment in 1979, its economy has grown rapidly. Through 2018, its gross domestic product (GDP), which is a

The Markets Shortest ever. Last week, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) finally announced the official dates for the recession that occurred in 2020. Economic activity peaked in February 2020 and bottomed in April 2020. That makes the pandemic recession the shortest in American history. According to the NBER, “The recent downturn had different

The Markets Major U.S. stock indices moved lower last week: Y-T-D 1-Year 3-Year 5-Year 10-Year Standard & Poor’s 500 (Domestic Stocks) -1.0% 15.2% 34.6% 15.6% 14.8% 12.7% Dow Jones Global ex-U.S. 0.0 7.0 27.3 6.6 7.8 3.5 10-year Treasury Note (Yield Only) 1.3 NA 0.6 2.9 1.6 2.9 Gold (per ounce) 1.0 -3.4 0.9 13.7

The MarketsThere was a gapers’ block in financial markets last week as equity investors slowed to see what the United States Treasury bond market was up to.  U.S. Treasury bonds rallied last week. Yields on 10-year Treasuries dropped from 1.43 percent at the start of the week to 1.27 percent on Thursday. The rally was