Weekly Economic Update – October 29, 2018 October 29, 2018 FIRST ESTIMATE OF Q3 GDP: 3.5% A 4.0% gain in consumer spending and a 3.3% advance in government spending helped strengthen the economy in the three months ending in September. Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows that the past two quarters represent the best 6-month period for U.S. growth since 2014. It appears likely that [...]
Weekly Economic Update – October 22, 2018 October 22, 2018 HOMES MOVE AT THE SLOWEST PACE IN 3 YEARS Existing home sales slumped 3.4% in September as the annualized sales rate decelerated to a degree unseen since November 2015. In reporting this, the National Association of Realtors cited the usual factors: climbing mortgage rates, tight inventory, and ascending prices (the median sale price in September [...]
Weekly Economic Update – October 15, 2018 October 15, 2018 UNCERTAINTY BREEDS SELLING, FOLLOWED BY A RELIEF RALLY On Friday, Wall Street rebounded from a disquieting slump that saw the blue chips take an almost 1,400 point dive. The S&P 500 gained 1.42% to snap a 6-session losing streak, the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.29% to fight back from a correction, and the Dow rose 1.15%. [...]
Weekly Economic Update – October 8, 2018 October 8, 2018 10-YEAR TREASURY YIELD HITS A 7-YEAR PEAK Friday, the yield on the 10-year note reached 3.23%, its highest level since 2011. Its yield rose dramatically last week, influenced by hawkish comments from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and reports showing minimal unemployment and a swiftly expanding business sector. All this strengthened investor perception that the [...]
Weekly Economic Update – October 1, 2018 October 2, 2018 FEDERAL RESERVE MAKES ITS THIRD RATE HIKE OF 2018 The central bank set the target range for the federal funds rate at 2.00-2.25% last week, in a move that economists and investors widely expected. One development was unexpected: the Fed removed the word “accommodative” from its latest policy statement, a hint that it may be [...]
Weekly Economic Update – September 24, 2018 September 24, 2018 BLUE CHIPS HIT A 2018 HIGH On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its best close since January. Friday took the index even higher, to another record settlement of 26,743.50. That capped a 2.25% weekly advance. The Dow was not the only major benchmark shattering records last week. The S&P 500 also settled at [...]
Read More... from Weekly Economic Update – September 24, 2018
Weekly Economic Update – September 17, 2018 September 17, 2018 CONSUMER SENTIMENT EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS In its initial September edition, the University of Michigan’s monthly consumer sentiment index rose 4.6 points to 100.8, a 6-month high. Economists polled by Bloomberg had forecast a reading of 96.6. Fifty-six percent of households responding to the survey said that they had made recent financial gains; the all-time high for [...]
Read More... from Weekly Economic Update – September 17, 2018
Weekly Economic Update – September 10, 2018 September 11, 2018 LATEST JOBS REPORT CONFIRMS WAGE GROWTH IS ACCELERATING According to the Department of Labor’s newest employment report, average pay for U.S. private sector workers improved 2.9% in the 12 months ending in August. That is the best annualized wage boost since the end of the Great Recession in 2009 and an improvement from 2.7% in [...]
Read More... from Weekly Economic Update – September 10, 2018
Weekly Economic Update – September 3, 2018 September 11, 2018 OPTIMISM REIGNS ON MAIN STREET In August, the Conference Board’s respected consumer confidence index made a remarkable leap, rising 5.5 points to 133.4. This was its highest reading in almost 18 years. (Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast an August reading of 126.5.) The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index also improved in its final August [...]
Read More... from Weekly Economic Update – September 3, 2018
Weekly Economic Update – August 27, 2018 August 27, 2018 BULL MARKET MAKES HISTORY At the close on August 22, the current bull marked its 3,453th day, a record by S&P Dow Jones standards. Between March 9, 2009 and last Wednesday, the S&P 500 advanced 323%, with an annualized return of about 19%. Besides optimism, four other factors drove the market higher in the last [...]