Headlines and headwinds left stocks barely ahead Stocks had a resilient start to the quarter with investors buying the mid-month dips in July and August to produce consecutive monthly returns well above 2.0%. However, the fatigue of digesting headlines on Congressional conflicts, pandemic-related supply chain issues, and Fed policy ruminations Read more…
Stocks ride the wave of uncertainty to strong gains A reversal of a reversal of a reversal of style leadership in the second quarter made the markets as tough to follow as the beginning of this sentence. The S&P registered its fifth consecutive quarterly gain as growth and value stocks Read more…
Investors poured into stocks as the economic glass appears to be half-full US stocks rallied for the fourth consecutive quarter as the S&P 500 gained over 6% on investor optimism about vaccine distributions and additional stimulus. Value investors were amply rewarded as the pro-cyclical rotation continued and rising treasury yields Read more…
Mixed Equity Performance for the Markets The first month of 2021 ended with an audible thud. The S&P 500 finished 1% lower after rising for most of the month only to stumble 4% in the last three days of January. Trends that began during the recovery rally of 2020 persisted Read more…
Market Review In the final quarter of 2020, U.S. equities continued to post gains for the third consecutive quarter, with positive Covid-19 vaccine news and the U.S. election result aiding recovery in the more cyclical segments of the market. The S&P 500 returned 18.4% for the year, and 12.2% in Read more…
Market Review Following a wild first half of 2020, the third quarter brought continued recovery with most major indexes posting gains. The S&P 500 rose 8.9% for the quarter, marking its best third-quarter performance in a decade and bringing its year-to-date performance into positive territory with a 5.6% return. In Read more…
Market Review A risk-on sentiment returned to the U.S. equity market in Q2 with the S&P 500 posting a 20.54% return, its largest quarterly gain in more than twenty years. Aggressive stimulus, optimism about COVID-19 treatments and vaccine progress, and a faster-than-expected bottom then rebound in some economic data all Read more…
As the NASDAQ hit a new record high and the S&P 500 turned positive for the year, many market experts have been pondering the historic run since the pullback in Q1 2020, and their thoughts seem to share the same theme — this market rally feels more like a bubble Read more…
The May jobs report was released this morning and was much better than expected, with the US unemployment rate falling to 13.3% as payrolls rose by 2.5 million, rather than the expected additional job losses and a rise in the unemployment rate to around 19%. According to Bloomberg, out of Read more…
Stocks finished higher for the week led by energy, tech, and consumer discretionary. However, stocks have largely been in a holding pattern since mid-April, when first-quarter earnings reports began coming out. The April employment report showed that nonfarm payrolls fell by 20.5 million last month, erasing roughly all the jobs Read more…