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…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Nov. 5-11, 2023 Markets stall after hawkish comments from Fed officials After last week’s decision to keep interest rates where they are, markets took a breath and focused on comments from Federal Reserve officials this week. First, Michelle Bowman said she expects further tightening will be needed, causing…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Oct. 29 – Nov. 4, 2023 Fed pauses and markets bounce back The Federal Reserve paused again last week, holding rates steady at 5.25% to 5.50%. At his post-meeting press conference, Chair Jerome Powell didn’t really provide any direction other than the Fed will continue to depend on…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Oct. 22-28, 2023 Q3 GDP comes in hot — but will it stay that way? Experts were saying that third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) would be strong — but just how strong was a surprise, coming in at an eye-popping 4.9%! Where did all this growth come from,…

Weekly Market Commentary THE WEEK IN REVIEW: October 15-21, 2023 Gloomy headlines push markets down Markets slid last week amid ongoing geopolitical concerns and tough talk from Federal Reserve officials. The S&P 500 had its biggest weekly decline in a month, while the Nasdaq slid back to four-month lows. But let’s back up. Stocks opened…