Weekly Market Recap

Weekly Market Recap – September 18, 2020

In the Markets
Thursday’s Labor Department report stated that initial unemployment benefit claims totaled 790,000 before adjustments for seasonal factors, down from the prior week’s 866,000 tally. It is still four times what it had been before the pandemic led to shutdowns and layoffs back in March. As tech stocks continued …

Weekly Market Recap – September 11, 2020

In the Markets
The unemployment claims number held steady at 884,000, unchanged from the revised figure for the previous week, which is a sign that the US recovery might be losing steam. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that the cost of goods and services rose sharply for the …

Weekly Market Recap – August 28, 2020

In the Markets
US employers added 1.4 million jobs in August, down from 1.7 million in July, lowering the number to 8.4% of workers unemployed. 881,000 new jobless benefit filings were reported on Thursday. The Congressional Budget Office stated that the 2020 budget deficit would be the greatest since the end …

Weekly Market Recap – August 28, 2020

In the Markets
Initial jobless claims were above 1 million again (1,006,000), and 35 states have been approved for the enhanced unemployment benefit of $300 per week that was authorized by executive order on August 8th. A Category 4 hurricane, Laura, delivered the strongest landfall in Louisiana in 164 years, and …

Weekly Market Recap – August 21, 2020

In the Markets
The homebuilding sector is emerging as one of the few strongholds in an economy battered by the pandemic. Housing starts increased by 22.6%, the largest gain since October 2016. Apple became the first US company to reach a $2 trillion valuation. New jobless claims unexpectedly jumped to 1.1 …

Weekly Market Recap – August 14, 2020

In the Markets
The US unemployment claims figure came in at less than one million (963,000) for the first time in 21 weeks. Core retail sales rose 1.9%, which was higher than the 1.2% expectation; sales at stores and restaurants have now risen for three straight months after plunging in March …

Weekly Market Recap – August 7, 2020

In the Markets
US employers added 1.8 million jobs in July. The unemployment rate decreased to 10.2%. The new jobless benefit filings for the prior week fell to 1.2 million claims. Less than half of the job loss caused by the pandemic has been recovered. Congress made no progress in talks on …

Weekly Market Recap – July 31, 2020

In the Markets
According to a Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) release on Thursday, the US economy contracted at a record rate of 32.9% in the second quarter of 2020. The weekly jobless report showed another increase, with 1.43 million Americans filing new claims. On Friday, Fitch announced a lowered outlook …

Weekly Market Recap – July 24, 2020

In the Markets
The week started with the European Union agreeing to a €1.6 trillion pandemic recovery strategy based on the sale of hundreds of billions of common debt. On Wednesday, the US abruptly ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, resulting from accusations of espionage. Filings for weekly unemployment …

Weekly Market Recap – July 17, 2020

In the Markets
This past week, the Department of Commerce report showed that retail sales rose 7.5% in June; this was largely attributed to online consumer purchasing of summer clothing. Another major factor was that Americans were returning to re-opened restaurants. According to the Fed’s report, June industrial production showed the …

Weekly Market Recap – July 10, 2020

In the Markets
Thursday’s labor department figures stated that 1.4 million Americans applied for unemployment insurance for the first time last week and more than 19 million people are still receiving unemployment benefits. The Federal Reserve reported Wednesday that consumer borrowing declined by $18.3 billion in May, a drop of 5.3%. …

Weekly Market Recap – July 2, 2020

In the Markets
After US employers added a record 4.8 million jobs in June, the national unemployment rate dropped to 11.1%. However, many states are reporting record increases in new Covid-19 cases and a growing death toll.
Our weekly recap includes a few noteworthy quarterly changes because the second quarter of …

Weekly Market Recap – June 26, 2020

In the Markets
After weeks of news stories dominated by better economic numbers and coverage of re-openings, along with the focus on developments surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, the spotlight is on COVID-19 once again. On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal’s lead headline was “Virus Spread Accelerates Across U.S.” Also …

Weekly Market Recap – June 19, 2020

In the Markets
Recent data releases are giving investors signs that the reopening is stimulating the economy. Retail sales jumped 17.7% in May; the previous monthly change had been down 14.7%. Industrial production increased by 1.4% versus the negative 12.5% reported for April. 1.5 million jobless claims were filed, equal to …

Weekly Market Recap – June 12, 2020

In the Markets
The week for stock markets started off with a bang as the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday sessions took the NASDAQ Composite to three consecutive all time highs. By the end of the week, however, the exuberance was gone. Also, the NBER panel reported that the US had entered …

Weekly Market Recap – June 5, 2020

In the Markets
On Thursday, the European Central Bank boosted its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program by €600 billion ($676 billion). This additional bond-buying stimulus brings the total to €1.35 trillion ($1.53 trillion), and the plan is being extended to June 2121. The euro soared to $1.135 on the news, a level …

Weekly Market Recap – May 29, 2020

In the Markets
Restrictions have been easing in major US cities, and businesses are coming back, though worldwide coronavirus cases hit 6 million. On Thursday, the labor department reported 2.1 new jobless claims; one in every four American workers, more than 40 million, have filed for unemployment since the middle of …

Weekly Market Recap – May 22, 2020

In the Markets
With 2.4 million new unemployment claims this week, bringing the total to 38.6 million since mid-March, this gauge of joblessness would look like a flattening curve on a graph. This aspect of the data contributed to investor confidence in the stock market. Another positive impetus for market participants …

Weekly Market Recap – May 15, 2020

In the Markets
Stock market investors pushed the indices lower this past week, due to a combination of pandemic news, a rekindled US-China trade war campaign and more negative economic data. Retail sales plunged 16.4% in April (worse than the expected 12% setback), registering the largest drop since the reporting of …

Weekly Market Recap – May 8, 2020

In the Markets
This week’s statistics gave investors another snapshot of stresses in the economy and society, as a whole. The Department of Commerce reported that the US trade gap rose to $44.4 billion in March, wider than February’s gap of $39.8 billion. According to the Federal Reserve, Consumer borrowing fell …

Weekly Market Recap – May 1, 2020

In the Markets
Early last week, some businesses across the nation began the process of opening their doors again, adding to investor confidence which was also bolstered by encouraging news about Remdesivir trials.  On Wednesday, the commerce department reported that the gross domestic product contracted 4.8% in Q1. The jobless claims …

Weekly Market Recap – April 24, 2020

In the Markets
This week, the trading markets absorbed Thursday’s labor department report of 4.4 million jobless claims, a number lower than the three previous weekly releases. This brings the total claims reported in April to 23.1 million.
In other Coronavirus related news, more economic stimulus legislation was enacted. On Friday, …

Weekly Market Recap – April 17, 2020

In the Markets
Pandemic news has been the primary fundamental factor in global capital markets since February. As the data has begun showing COVID-19’s curves flattening, investors have been reacting more positively. Recent market action continued the uptrend as stock indexes posted strong gains for a second consecutive week. The Wall …

Weekly Market Recap – April 9, 2020

In the Markets
COVID-19’s spread has led to 16.8 million job losses in the past three weeks. Thursday’s statistic of 6.6 million new unemployment claims was already “in the market” when the figure was released that day. Later that afternoon the Federal Reserve announced a plan for a stimulus package of …