Weekly Market Recap – August 6, 2021   Nationwide, the Delta variant has now driven the coronavirus new case rate to over 100,000 per day, the highest since November 2020; incentives are now being offered to encourage vaccinations. 50% of the U.S. population is now fully vaccinated. California’s 463,000-acre Dixie wildfire has grown to be

Weekly Market Recap – July 30, 2021   2021’s second-quarter growth was reported at 6.5%, as measured by gross domestic product. This slight increase from the Q1 GDP of 6.3% takes the U.S. economy above its pre-pandemic level. Weekly Initial jobless claims dropped to 400,000 vs. 424,000. Monthly June statistics, compared with May, were as

Weekly Market Recap – July 23, 2021 OPEC Plus, the group of 23 oil-producing countries, reached a deal to raise crude output. The barrels added to global supply amount to a production increase of about 2% by the end of the year. Wildfires continue to rage in western North America. In Southern Oregon, the Bootleg

Weekly Market Recap – July 16, 2021 COVID-19 cases are rising in all fifty U.S. states; Los Angeles reinstated its indoor mask mandate. Wildfires are raging throughout western North America, which is in its fourth consecutive heatwave. Nevada’s Lake Meade, the nation’s largest reservoir, has dropped to the lowest level ever recorded since the construction

Weekly Market Recap – July 9, 2021 Thirty-two million Americans are under excessive heat alerts, due to the high-pressure dome causing record temperatures in seven states in the West. California has ordered power and water preservation measures. The COVID-19 global death toll has passed 4 million. In the U.S., a spike in outbreaks is being

Weekly Market Recap – July 2, 2021 On Thursday, a five-year $715 billion infrastructure bill was passed by the House. In the Pacific Northwest, heat-related deaths climbed into the hundreds. On Friday, tropical storm Elsa barreled into the Caribbean. The coronavirus Delta variant has now been detected in all 50 states. The following economic statistics

Weekly Market Recap – June 25, 2021 Initial jobless claims fell by only 7,000, as the weekly tally came in at 411,000 on Thursday; 418,000 new claims were filed the previous week. New home sales were 769,000 in May, compared to 817,000 in April. Existing home sales were 5.80 million, a small change from April’s

Weekly Market Recap – June 18, 2021 The week had a number of economic reports. An unexpected statistic was the initial jobless claim tally, which had its first uptick in eight weeks: 412,000 claims compared with the previous 375,000. May retail sales declined 1.3% (vs. +0.9% in April), industrial production was +0.8% (vs. +0.1%), capacity

Weekly Market Recap – June 11, 2021 The word “Inflation” appeared frequently in Thursday’s financial press, after the May Consumer Price Index was released, showing a 5.0% surge from a year ago, the highest rate since 2008. The month-to-month CPI was +0.6% vs. the 0.8% rise in April. Other economic statistics, compared with their prior

Weekly Market Recap – June 4, 2021 The weekly initial jobless tally was 385,000 new claims vs. the previous 405,000. Nonfarm payrolls showed a 559,000 increase; Wall Street had predicted 671,000. The unemployment rate is now 5.8% vs. 6.1% a month ago. Some analysts attributed the uptick in the labor market to more Americans getting