Weekly Market Recap

Weekly Market Recap – April 1, 2021

In the Markets
Initial jobless claims came in at 719,000 compared with 658,000 the previous week; yet, the monthly non-farm payrolls tally showed an improvement with 675,000 in March vs. 379,000 for February. The overall unemployment rate is now 6.0% vs. 6.2% a month ago. The consumer confidence index gained from …

Weekly Market Recap – March 26, 2021

In the Markets
Initial jobless claims fell sharply to 684,000 vs. the previous week’s 781,000. Other economic statistics, compared to their prior levels, were as follows: the consumer sentiment index was 89.1 vs. 83.0, durable goods orders for February were down 1.1% vs. January’s 3.5% rise, February core capital goods orders …

Weekly Market Recap – March 19, 2021

In the Markets
The initial jobless claims report, at 770,000, was the highest weekly number in five weeks; the count for the previous week was 725,000. February retail sales decreased 3.0%, compared with January’s 7.6% increase. Industrial production rose 1.3%, slightly weaker than the prior month’s +1.4%. Business inventories rose 0.3%, …

Weekly Market Recap – March 12, 2021

In the Markets
Thursday’s initial jobless claims report came in at 712,000, compared with the previous week’s figure of 754,000. The Consumer Price Index for February was up 0.4% vs. 0.3% for January. Producer prices were up 0.5% vs. the prior month’s 1.3% increase. Wholesale inventories for January rose 1.3%; the …

Weekly Market Recap – March 5, 2021

In the Markets
Thursday’s initial jobless claims report was 745,000, compared with 736,000 the previous week. February’s non-farm payroll figure showed an increase of 379,000 jobs that came back vs. January’s 166,000 rise. In the Commerce Department’s report on the balance of trade for January, the deficit grew by $68.2 billion, …

Weekly Market Recap – February 26, 2021

In the Markets
President Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package was passed in the House. A panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration endorsed Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine. Initial jobless claims declined to 730,000 vs. the previous week’s 841,000 applications. Other economic statistics, compared to their prior …

Weekly Market Recap – February 19, 2021

In the Markets
The 821,000 initial jobless claims total was the highest in a month; there are a total of 18.3 million unemployed U.S. workers. Retail sales reported for January increased 5.3%, compared with December’s 1.4%. Industrial production rose 0.9%, a bit weaker than the prior month’s +1.3%. The PPI for …

Weekly Market Recap – February 12, 2021

In the Markets
Thursday’s jobless claims report came in at 793,000, compared with the previous week’s revised figure of 812,000; the average expectation by Wall Street analysts was 760,000. The Consumer Price Index for January was up 0.3% vs. 0.2% for December. Wholesale inventories for December rose 0.3%; the November number …

Weekly Market Recap – February 5, 2021

In the Markets
The U.S. Senate passed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill, as the nationwide toll from the disease reached 460,582 deaths, with 2,820 new deaths cited on Friday.
Initial jobless claims were reported at 779,000 vs. 812,000 in the previous week’s release; Wall Street analysts had expected an average of …

Weekly Market Recap – January 29, 2021

In the Markets
Initial jobless claims declined to 875,000; the report for the previous week was 914,000 first-time applications. Economic statistics, compared to their prior levels, were as follows: the consumer confidence index was 89.3 vs. 87.1, durable goods orders were 0.2% vs. 1.2%, core capital goods were 0.6% vs. 1.0%, …

Weekly Market Recap – January 22, 2021

In the Markets
The four-day week was eventful, yet light on economic statistics. On Wednesday, Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris were inaugurated as President and Vice President of the United States. The pandemic continues to worsen, as measured by confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths. US deaths from COVID-19 have topped 400,000, …

Weekly Market Recap – January 15, 2021

In the Markets
Thursday’s jobless claim report was sharply higher, coming in at 965,000, 16.3% greater than the average of 830,000 expected by Wall Street analysts. The unexpected increase set the tone for a slight stock market selloff that persisted to the week’s end, despite the positive signals from president-elect Biden’s …

Weekly Market Recap – January 8, 2021

In the Markets
The December non-farm payroll figure came in as a drop of 140,000 vs. November’s 336,000 increase, despite analysts’ average expectation of +50,000. Initial jobless claims were practically unchanged, amounting to 787,000 vs. 790,000 in the previous week’s report; Wall Street analysts had expected an average of 815,000. As …

Weekly Market Recap – December 31, 2020

In the Markets
This shortened holiday week was also short on economic statistics. The weekly initial jobless claims were 835,000 vs. 803,000 the previous week. Pandemic statistics are continuing to worsen; the US death toll is now more than 350,000. The stimulus bill was signed. The Brexit trade separation between UK …

Weekly Market Recap – December 24, 2020

In the Markets
After a couple of weekly reports showing that new jobless claims were increasing, the figure fell with 803,000 requests for unemployment benefits. The previous week had 892,000 initial claims. Americans who continue to be out of work now number 20.36 million; there were 20.65 million the previous week. …

Weekly Market Recap – December 18, 2020

In the Markets
Weekly initial jobless claims shot higher to 885,000; there were 862,000 new claims the previous week. The monthly report of the index of leading economic indicators advanced 0.6%, the lowest change in five months. Industrial production rose 0.4%, weaker than the prior month (+0.9%). The retail sales report …

Weekly Market Recap – December 11, 2020

In the Markets
Jobless claims were sharply higher, coming in at 853,000, 18.4% higher than the average of 720,000 expected by Wall Street analysts. Consumer credit for October increased by $7billion, nearly half of September’s $15 billion. Wholesale inventories increased 1.1%, up slightly from the previous month’s 0.9% gain. CPI for …

Weekly Market Recap – December 4, 2020

In the Markets
The week ended with US coronavirus statistics hitting unprecedented levels. New cases numbered more than 210,000, hospitalizations exceeded 100,000 and the death toll surpassed 275,000 nationwide. On employment, analysts’ average expectation for November non-farm payrolls was 432,000, but the figure came in at 245,000. In terms of new …

Weekly Market Recap – November 27, 2020

In the Markets
After a month of new jobless claims decreasing, the tally reversed direction with 778,000 requests for unemployment benefits. The previous week had 748,000. The total number of Americans who continue to be out of work is now 20.45 million (vs. 20.32 million.) Economic data releases and indices, compared …

Weekly Market Recap – November 20, 2020

In the Markets
The retail sales report for October increased by 0.3%, down from September’s 1.6%.
Industrial production rose 1.1% compared to the prior month (-0.4%). Nationwide unemployment figures indicate that the jobless total eased to 20.32 million from the previous week’s 21.16 million. 742,000 of those were new claims, compared …

Weekly Market Recap – November 13, 2020

In the Markets
Economic news for the week ending November 13th indicated a slight improvement in the employment statistics. The number is now 21.16 million unemployed compared with 21.53 million the previous week. New jobless claims came in at 709,000 vs. 751,000 from a week earlier. Consumer prices were unchanged for …

Weekly Market Recap – November 6, 2020

In the Markets
Data from Johns Hopkins University showed 126,742 new US cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. This marked the fourth day in one week of more than 100,000 new reported cases. Sixteen states have indicated record high COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to the Covid Tracking Project. In the US, more than …

Weekly Market Recap – October 30, 2020

In the Markets
Third-quarter GDP growth was a record +33.1% vs. a 31.4% decline in Q2. There were 751,000 new jobless claims reported, compared to 791,000 the previous week, for a total of 22.65 million unemployed workers, down from 23.07 million. Personal income rose 0.9%, compared with the prior month’s 2.5% …

Weekly Market Recap – October 23, 2020

In the Markets
A record one-day high of more than 83,000 US coronavirus cases was reported on Friday. New jobless claims were 787,000 for the reported week, and continuous unemployment benefit claims improved to 23.15 million people, down from 24.2 million. September’s index of leading economic indicators fell to 0.7%, down …