China, the Economy, and the Fed We would like to start this week’s update by extending a congratulations to former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on receiving the Nobel Prize in Economics.  Well deserved! Financial Markets United States financial markets continued to suffer from extreme volatility this past week.  Investors can be excused for creating…

The War against Inflation Financial Markets The war against inflation went into high gear this past week.  The U.S. Federal Reserve continues to lead the fight, but central banks around the globe have joined the battle.  Chairman Powell announced a 75 basis point increase in interest rates on Wednesday, and, more importantly, the tone of…

Farewell to a Queen, Long Live the King! Last week, the United Kingdom went through a remarkable sequence of events, a change in prime minister and in sovereign.  We wrote last week about the new prime minister.  This week, a much sadder report is the death of Queen Elizabeth II.  The Queen was 96 and…

China’s Struggles and a Change in London Thinking – Perhaps Financial Markets This past week, United States equity markets lost all of the previous week’s gains. The main concern for investors was that the economic releases indicated there may be enough strength in the economy for the Fed to feel obligated to raise interest rates…

Expectations are everything Financial Markets Equity markets experienced a second strong weekly rally, separated by a mildly soft but still positive week.  An inspiration for investors was a surprisingly good inflation report.  The Consumer Price Index rose 8.5%.  While an 8.5% inflation rate is nothing to write home about, it is better than the prior…

Strong Job Growth Spurs Mild Investor Reaction Investors’ reactions to this past week’s strong employment release was reasonably tepid, even though it supports concerns over inflation and Fed tightening, considering the strong market performance the prior week.  There could be many reasons for this.  It may be that the market drawdown this year was overdone,…

Reversal or Bear Market Bounce? Financial Markets Last week was truly a remarkable one for financial markets, capping off the best month for stocks since November 2020. All Dow sectors rose significantly while fixed income yields fell.  As a reminder, fixed income yields and prices have an inverse relationship. This was widely welcomed by most…

An important global economic week as equities hold their gains This past week was very busy for analysts, whether focused on economics, politics, or defense.  Important developments came from around the globe. Financial Markets U.S. equity markets had an excellent week.  The Dow gained 1.95%, the S&P 500 gained 2.55%, and the NASDAQ gained 3.33%. …

Investors Show a Glimmer of Confidence Financial Markets As you will read in our analysis of economic indicators, the most recent data has given investors a bit of confidence that, when it comes to inflation, the worst may be over.  Again, we remind readers that when analyzing economic statistics, it is important to avoid making…

Bad News, Good Results Financial Markets Perhaps the title is a bit misleading, but it certainly rings true. Equity markets rallied strongly this past week, with all sectors except Energy participating.  The Dow gained 5.39%, the S&P 500 gained 6.45%, while the NASDAQ gained 7.49%.  The interesting question is why?  This is where our title…