Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Jan. 14-20, 2024 Consumer spending still going strong The consumer hasn’t gotten tired of spending — at least not yet. December retail sales, released last Wednesday, were strong and easily exceeded expectations. The latest consumer sentiment number also came out last week, jumping to its highest level in…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: January 7-13, 2024 Stocks improve while inflation numbers are mixed Stocks moved up in the first full week of trading in 2024. Several tech giants — including Facebook parent Meta and chipmaker NVIDIA — posted solid gains, even as the tech industry experienced layoffs at companies such as…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Dec. 31, 2023 – Jan. 6, 2024 Market stumbles out of the gate Markets had a rough start to the year last week. The drop could have been due to a number of things: Folks taking profits to push capital gains into 2024, concerns over the continuing (and…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Dec. 24-30, 2023 Ring out the old and usher in the new Last week was a short one for trading, bookended by the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Markets closed up again last week, with the S&P 500 marking its ninth straight weekly gain — the longest stretch…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Dec. 17-23, 2023 Finishing 2023 strong With one more week to go in 2023, U.S. equity markets are on a winning streak. Last week got off to a strong start, as San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: December 10-16, 2023 Markets hit new highs as we accelerate into year-end Markets had a great week as they awaited inflation numbers and the decision from the final Federal Reserve meeting of the year. Let’s just say the data and the meeting did not disappoint. We started the…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: December 3-9, 2023 Markets resume upward momentum as we near year-end Markets had a decent week after a slow start. After the ADP employment report, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment situation summary — aka “nonfarm payrolls” — all showed…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Nov. 26 – Dec. 2, 2023 November was a good month for markets Christmas came early this year for investors. Colloquially known as a “Santa Claus rally,” the market experienced an upward bounce in the latter half of November. On the equities side, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Nov. 19-25, 2023 Stocks move higher in a quiet trading week Last week was a fairly quiet one, with many people off for the Thanksgiving holiday. However, a couple of notable pieces of data dropped. On Wednesday, the Commerce Department reported that durable goods orders decreased 5.4% in…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Nov. 12-18, 2023 Markets rally as interest rates dip and chances of additional hikes recede Markets continued to climb back toward end-of-July highs last week. After the Federal Reserve’s last meeting and a softer jobs number indicated a slowing economy, markets began to look for additional confirmation of…