Quick Takes Surging yields rattled markets in the first week of trading in the new year. The S&P 500 dropped -1.9% despite hitting a record high on the first day of the year. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite was hit especially hard, falling -4.5% over the...
Market Performance Summary Stocks and Real Estate finished the year strongly with solid December gains. Low interest rates, plenty of liquidity, an expanding economy, and strong earnings continued to fuel the rise for equities. The S&P 500 closed the year just shy...
Quick Takes In light holiday trading, stocks were mostly up. The exception was the Nasdaq Composite which was barely down with a -0.1% loss. The S&P 500 index finished the last week of the year with a +0.9% gain, giving the index a +26.9% return for 2021. Although...
Quick Takes Stocks began the week with sharp losses on Monday, but then rallied the final three days of the holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 gained +2.3% for the week, closing at a new all-time high – the 68th all-time high in 2021. US Home prices are at a...
Quick Takes Choppy trading continued as Omicron and Fed monetary policy stirred markets. Stocks gave up some of last week’s gains as investors weighed the impact of the Omicron variant on the economy and supply chains while processing the Fed’s new stance on...
Quick Takes Investors shrugged off the spread of Omicron and surging inflation to send the S&P 500 to a new record high, as it, and the Nasdaq, had their best week since February. Even small caps, laggards of late, had healthy gains with the Russell 2000 breaking...
Quick Takes Stocks declined sharply for the second straight week as the Omicron variant spread quickly around the world, and to a dozen U.S. states, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell hinted at accelerating its tapering of bond purchases. November’s employment report showed...
November Performance Summary Well, November didn’t quite live up to its reputation. Historically, November has been the second-best month of the year for stocks, but not this November in which the S&P 500 Index actually declined a bit, dropping -.07% on a total...
Quick Takes Global stocks declined sharply over the week, but most remain within a few percentage points from their all-time highs. Positive economic data before Thanksgiving Day couldn’t overcome a significant decline on Friday as stocks, commodities, and bond yields...
Quick Takes Global stocks advanced over the week but closed slightly below their all-time highs. Positive earnings momentum continued to bolster stocks as well as a strong October retail sales report. The strength was primarily in large-cap growth stocks while...
