Weekly Market Recap – February 3, 2023 Friday’s job data grabbed the headlines with the lowest US unemployment rate since 1969. Major central banks continue their efforts to combat inflation: the Bank of England increased rates half a percentage point to 4%, and the Fed raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point to a

Weekly Market Recap – January 27, 2023 On Monday, a massive grid failure of Pakistan’s aging power network created a nationwide outage; the entire population of 220 million people was without electricity for 18 hours. The US and Germany each announced Wednesday they would equip Ukraine with tanks, reversing their longstanding position of providing Kyiv

Weekly Market Recap – January 20, 2023 On Thursday, the US debt ceiling ($31.4 trillion) was hit without being addressed by any relevant actions by the House of Representatives. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin warned of a global financial calamity if a debt limit agreement is not reached. Microsoft announced it would lay off 10,000 workers,

Weekly Market Recap – January 13, 2023 Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin warned of a potential default on US debt if lawmakers fail to act on the debt ceiling prior to the January 19 deadline. A massive FAA software glitch grounded thousands of flights across the country, causing a complete shutdown of U.S. airspace. Areas of

Weekly Market Recap – January 6, 2023 In the U.S. House of Representatives, it took fifteen ballots to secure Kevin McCarthy’s speakership, which dominated the news most of the week. There are new COVID concerns as health experts track the abrupt rise of XBB.1.5, the latest Omicron sub-variant. In northern California, torrential rains caused rivers

Weekly Market Recap – December 30, 2022 On Thursday, President Biden signed the $1.7 trillion package to fund the government into next fall. In response to the G7’s $60 price cap on Russia’s oil, President Putin announced a ban on oil exports to any country that supported that pricing limit. This week saw an acceleration

Weekly Market Recap – December 23, 2022 Ukraine’s President Zelensky visited Washington, where he held meetings with President Biden and top administration officials, and delivered an address to a joint session of Congress to ask for more military support. The Senate passed a $1.7 trillion spending bill, to avert a government shutdown. The bill now

Weekly Market Recap – December 16, 2022 A breakthrough in science hit the headlines on Tuesday as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California announced a milestone: physicists had produced nuclear fusion ignition that generated more energy than it took to start the reaction. On Thursday, the Fed raised interest rates by half a percent;

Weekly Market Recap – December 9, 2022 OPEC Plus announced that oil production would remain unchanged. Triple A published its weekly at-the-pump gasoline prices at $3.33 per gallon, lower than it was a year ago at $3.34. Ukraine unleashed several long-distance drone attacks, some reaching 300 miles into Russia, and hitting two military installations. Russian

Weekly Market Recap – December 2, 2022 Fed Chairman Powell signaled that the central bank is poised to ease borrowing costs, saying, “the time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting.” Congress cleared the way to prevent a nationwide railroad strike. President Biden said he is willing