A Return to Balance Financial Markets Chairman Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole greatly relieved participants in financial markets and the real economy.  Ultimately, Powell signaled to the world that more accommodative monetary policy is on the way.  For so long, everything seemed to hinge on inflation coming down and the labor market coming into better…

The Best Week Yet! Financial Markets This past week was one of the best for equity markets in a very long time—the strongest of the year and the best week since November 2023, to be exact.  One of the most comforting aspects of last week was equities responding to economic releases rationally rather than being…

A Remarkable Week! Markets Last week’s equity market performance was remarkable, indeed.  After Monday’s significant decline, markets managed to bounce back and finished the week only slightly in the red.  By Friday, markets were operating as if the turbulence was over.  That would be nice, but we expect that there may be more volatility to…

Welcome to a Correction Financial Markets This past week was punishing for investors, and the market weakness has only intensified a few hours into the market open.  Interestingly, last week began in good shape.  Investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s rate decision and Chairman Powell’s post-meeting press conference, which went very much as expected.  While the…

A Dramatic Week Financial Markets Investors had much to ponder this past week.  Developments in the presidential race, earnings announcements, and notable economic releases topped the list.  While President Biden’s withdrawal from the race added another wrinkle in an already eventful election season, politics was not a major factor in the markets last week.  The…

The World Turned Upside Down Financial Markets It was an interesting week in the equity markets!  We saw the start of a potential market rotation, and the week ended with a global tech outage stemming from a single software update from CrowdStrike.  Often, after a volatile week in the market, investors and analysts begin to…

Soft Market, Disappointing Debate Financial Markets Last week, investors lived through a lackluster market and a very disappointing presidential debate. Anyone looking for entertainment or fireworks was sorely disappointed. The potential TV audience must have recognized that in advance since the viewership was down significantly from previous debates. Completing a rousing first half of 2024, the market…

AI and the Fed Rule the Market Financial Markets Equity markets rose for a third consecutive week.  Interestingly, this latest week’s advance was led by the Dow Industrials, and the laggard was the tech-oriented NASDAQ.  The Dow gained 1.45%, the S&P 500 gained 0.61%, and the NASDAQ was flat.  Although last week’s index performance rankings…

U.S. Markets Continue Ahead Financial Markets United States equity markets continued their advance this past week.  They appeared determined to gain ground, even in the face of a slightly hawkish update from the Federal Reserve.  Perhaps even more surprising was the rally seen in the fixed income markets.  For the week, the S&P 500 gained…

Mixed Economic Signals, Market Strength Continues Financial Markets Economic indicators gave mixed signals this past week, and investors had mixed reactions.  The most noteworthy economic news came on Friday with the employment report.  Interestingly, job creation came in stronger than consensus estimates, while the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked higher.  In other words, although job creation…