Happy New Year! Financial Markets We wish a very happy New Year to all of our readers.  We realize the past year has not been a particularly happy one in the financial markets.  The last week of the year was relatively flat with no particularly dramatic moves.  Investors appeared fatigued from the prior 51 weeks. …

The Fed Speaks, the Market Falls Financial Markets U.S. financial markets fell for the second consecutive week.  The Dow declined by 1.66%, the S&P 500 by 2.08%, and the NASDAQ by 2.72%.  Investors can point to many reasons for the selloff.  One is that the market was just taking a break from the 14.1% gain…

A Difficult Week for Markets with an Interesting One to Follow Financial Markets This past week was a difficult one for investors.  Both equity and fixed income markets suffered losses.  In the equity markets, the Utilities sector was a relative outperformer, falling 0.27%.  The Energy sector performed the worst, falling 8.30%.  The story is old…

An Encouraging but Confusing Week Financial Markets United States equity markets had a positive week.  Both large and small cap stocks ended the week in positive territory with smaller cap companies leading the pack.  The Dow gained 0.24%, the S&P 500 gained 1.13%, and the NASDAQ Composite gained 2.09%.  Within the S&P 500, the Communication…

The Market Changes its Signals? Financial Markets Equity markets had a rather uneventful holiday-shortened week.  The Dow gained 1.78%, the S&P 500 gained 1.53%, while the NASDAQ gained 0.72%.  Investors appear to side with those Fed officials who argue it is time to consider a reduction in the size of interest rate increases.  This, of…

A Red Wave Turned Mill Pond and a Market Roar! Financial Markets As readers know by now, this past week was filled with surprises.  Clever pollsters and analysts predicted a red wave of Trump-backed Republican candidates and looked forward to an interesting market reaction.  The former was a flop, while the latter occurred, but in…

Markets Fall but Still No Real Message Financial Markets United States equity markets closed lower this past week.  Despite the decline, there should be some encouragement for equity investors.  The Dow Jones closed down 1.40%, the S&P 500 closed down 3.35%, while the NASDAQ closed down 5.65%.  Under very few circumstances would anyone feel comforted…

Strong Market and a Changing World Financial Markets United States equity markets had their best week and month in a very long time. The Dow closed the week gaining 5.72%, the S&P 500 closed up 3.95%, while the NASDAQ closed up 2.24%.  Happy as that may make investors, it may not be the most encouraging. …

A World Turned Upside Down Financial Markets Equity markets continued to be volatile this past week.  There were, of course, many reasons for this volatility, none of which have been relieved.  In fact, the reasons have increased.  There was talk by some Fed officials that perhaps the time is approaching for the Fed to reduce…

Gloom from the IMF and a Wild Ride in the Markets Financial Markets U.S. financial markets took investors on a wild roller coaster ride this past week.  United States equity market performance finished mixed.  The Dow closed up 1.15%, the S&P 500 down 1.55%, while the NASDAQ closed down 3.11%. The end of the week…