Investment Management

S&P Rising: The S&P500 rose 1.6% last week led by the Nasdaq’s 3.3% rally with high-growth technology, discretionary, and communication service sectors leading the way. As it’s been for 2023, energy and defensive stocks, utilities, and staples, once again brought up the rear. The S&P500 ended the week at 4,136,…

A Decent New Year so Far: Last week the S&P500 index rose 2.5% ending Friday at 4070.56, putting the index up about +6% year to date. 2022 sector laggards, consumer discretionary and technology led the weekly gains up 6.4% and 4.1% each. Communication services rose 3.3%; real estate rose 2.8%;…

  January Movements: We entered last weekend with the S&P500 up +3.47% for the year and the Nasdaq up +6 .21%. Year to date, opposite 2022, the Dow Jones Industrial average is lagging the growth indexes. During a holiday-shortened week, Friday saw another intense breadth thrust day with the NYSE…

Softening Pressure: U.S. markets are closed today owing to the MLK holiday. Last week, on the back of softening CPI inflation pressure, and the hope of the Federal Reserve moving more slowly in 2023, the S&P500 index rose +2.7% last week. The index is now up over 4% year to…

The Current Conditions: 2023 started on a positive foot for equities globally. In its first week of trading, the S&P500 gained +1.5%, the Dow index gained +1.5%, and the Nasdaq +1%. Those gains were less than Europe and China where indexes rose anywhere from +3% to +10%. While the Fed…

Concluding the Year: 2022 is in the books and it wasn’t pretty for investors.  Both stock and bond volatility rose substantially last year.  The Fed induced bear markets in both stocks and bonds and the standard 60/40 portfolio endured its worst annual loss since 1937.  The value and price-weighted Dow…

Inflation Watch: Equity markets were down last week as investors remained worried about slower economic growth and a deteriorating profit outlook for 1st half 2023 as the Fed and other global central banks remain on inflation watch.  According to Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, global equity outflows totaled a record $41.9…

  The Cold Road to a Warm Christmas: Equity markets were down last week, as the Federal Reserve remained hawkish and the ECB piled on Thursday, December 15th. A cooler CPI report wasn’t enough to trigger a sustained stock market rally. Mid-week, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 50…

All Sectors Down: Equity markets were down last week -3 to -5% depending on the domestic index. The S&P 500 gave back -3.35%, with all sectors down. Energy, banks, and telecom services were the worst groups. Oil prices continued lower on the back of lower oil demand. U.S. gasoline prices…

Bearish Sentiment Amid Volatility & Inflation: Equity markets were modestly higher last week. The S&P 500 rose 1.19% on the week when it done. Intraweek volatility was caused by both economic data and the Federal Reserve itself. This morning stocks in Asia are higher with strong gains in China equities….

The Other Side of the Planet: U.S. equity futures are down about -.5% this morning on concerns that Chinese protests will slow the global economy further. Over the weekend, demonstrations broke out in mainland China as citizens have grown frustrated with Beijing’s zero-Covid policy. Local governments tightened Covid controls as…

China and COVID: S&P500 futures are down this morning as oil prices fall below $80 on concerns that China may tighten COVID curbs. China’s plan on relaxing its policies on COVID, may be having some second thoughts. Over the weekend, the capital locked down some districts. In Guangzhou, a five-day…