Quick Takes Last week was a mostly sleepy and downside-biased week for stocks, until Friday morning’s speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the Fed’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Dovish comments by Powell immediately sparked stocks...
Quick Takes The S&P 500 Index slipped -0.3% on Friday after setting three straight record highs on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. In the end, the benchmark U.S. index was up for a second straight week with a +0.9% gain. The week saw several countertrend moves....
Key Takeaways UNCERTAINTY RETREATS, SENTIMENT RECOVERS U.S. equities rose in July, driven by positive developments including tariff agreements, passage of the budget bill, resilient economic data, and a strong start to Q2 earnings season. The S&P 500 gained +2.2%,...
Quick Takes The S&P 500 was up +2.4% for the first full week of August, its best week since June 27, leaving it just a third of a point away from its July 28 record closing high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up +3.9% and achieved a fresh record high on Friday to...
Quick Takes Friday was the worst day, and concluded the worst week, for Wall Street since late May, as investors sold stocks following a combination of trade developments and weak jobs data. The S&P 500 Index was down -2.5% and the small cap Russell 2000 Index...
Quick Takes Strong corporate earnings and favorable trade deals set a positive tone for investors throughout the week and propelled stocks to more record highs. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at record highs again. For the week, the S&P was up +1.5%,...