The Monthly Market Update is part of our ongoing commitment to investor education and research. These posts often spark discussion and provide insight into our perspective on current financial markets and economic events.
Most Recent Update
The S&P 500 entered correction territory in March, at one point declining -10% from its February all-time high. For historical context, the average intra-year decline since 1980 is -14%. With stock valuations already elevated by historical standards, increased policy uncertainty and concerns about potentially slower AI investment contributed to the selloff. Among the many policy […]
The stock market rally continued in April, with the Dow Jones 30 gaining 2.7% and the S&P 500 up 4.0%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ was the winner for the month with a gain of 4.7%. Better-than-expected corporate earnings in April, a decline in inflation pressures and an excellent GDP report late in the month were among […]
Continue Reading ›The stock market’s rebound has been strong and consistent since making a low on Christmas Eve. It has been marked by a high percentage of stocks of all sizes and most industry groups moving higher in unison. This pattern has been a hallmark of past bull markets. The underlying economy is still growing, albeit at […]
Continue Reading ›The bear market in US stocks that occurred in the fourth quarter of 2018 was triggered by a fear that the Federal Reserve would keep increasing interest rates to fight off incipient inflation pressures building in the US economy. Given the incredible US jobs growth machine, spanning 100 straight months of gains and counting, better […]
Continue Reading ›US stocks posted their best January performance in 30 years. Following the worst December since 1931, investors can rightly breathe a sigh of relief. Our December Dashboard outlined the havoc caused by Fed Chair Jay Powell’s ill-advised remarks in October regarding future interest rate policy, as well as poorly-received follow-up statements about overall monetary policy […]
Continue Reading ›“We are a long way from neutral.” This phrase, uttered by Fed Chair Jerome Powell in response to a reporter’s question in early October, knocked the legs out from under the US stock market and triggered a fourth quarter decline in stocks not seen since the Financial Crisis began in 2008. Powell was referring to […]
Continue Reading ›Rumors of a plateauing of oil output in Texas, New Mexico (which share the Permian Basin) and North Dakota have been exaggerated by a lack of pipelines to transport shale oil to refining depots. The pipeline bottleneck should be eased by the end of 2019 when three new pipelines are completed that will link the […]
Continue Reading ›After enjoying five consecutive months of gains, US stocks had a terrible month of October, dropping almost 8% from their highs reached early in the month. Third quarter GDP growth was a very strong 3.5%, buoyed by robust consumer spending. Corporate earnings beat already-high expectations. So why then did the market have a sudden change […]
Continue Reading ›Wall Street loves an anniversary and the 10th anniversary of the Lehman Brothers failure was no exception. We won’t go into the causes of the failure and subsequent Great Recession as they have been told and re-told many times. One lesson of Lehman was that anything was possible in terms of financial calamity, so what […]
Continue Reading ›Perhaps everyone can breathe a sigh of relief now. Almost seven months to the day, the S&P 500 finally hit a new all-time high on August 24th. After the index peaked on January 26th it quickly fell 10% and then muddled along for the next few months, but steady progress since April has finally resulted […]
Continue Reading ›With the second half of the year officially underway the broad-based S&P 500 and much more concentrated Dow Jones Industrial indices are still chasing their all-time highs reached at the end of January (the technology-laden Nasdaq has already reached new highs). Following the November 2016 election the S&P 500 shot up 38% over the next […]
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