Equity markets rebounded last week as trade tensions eased after a conciliatory speech by China’s President Xi Jinping and a POTUS tweet expressing interest in revisiting the TPP.  While very much in the news, the Syrian conflict and further escalation of the Russian/POTUS investigation predictably had very little impact on [...]

Equity markets declined last week as the trade dispute between China and the U.S. flared.  Ultimately, it amounted to headline grabbing proposals and tweets, not policies, very similar to the lead up to NAFTA negotiations.  Treasury bond yields climbed last week and commodities softened. Market Anecdotes There are many considerations [...]

Following one of the worst weeks in two years, equity markets rebounded approximately 2% in this holiday shortened week as falling interest rates enabled REITs, telco, utilities, and consumer staples to lead the way.  The yield curve flattened with long rates (-0.9%) falling significantly more than short rates (-0.1%). Market [...]

The S&P 500 fell over 5% last week for the second time this year as markets grew anxious about U.S. maneuverings toward trade protectionism, potential technology sector regulation stemming from Facebook data improprieties, and a downbeat tone of recent Eurozone economic data.  Global proxies of technology, financials, and healthcare bore [...]

The balance of bullish arguments (earnings, economy) and bearish arguments (valuations, interest rates, tariffs) netted a down week for U.S. and most international equity markets while the yield curve flattened a fair amount.  The S&P 500 closed out the week almost exactly between the January record high and February correction [...]

Last week, equity markets celebrated the nine-year anniversary of the bull market which began on March 9th, 2009.  U.S. equity markets shrugged off new tariffs signed by POTUS, another high-profile resignation from the White House, and welcomed a denuclearize salvo from North Korea as a sign of reduced likelihood of [...]

A holiday shortened week with a relatively light economic and corporate earnings calendar left equity and commodity markets slightly higher while interest rates were largely unchanged.  Equity market volatility (VIX) continued to settle from the 37.3 peak on February 5 to 16.5 by the end of the week. Technology stocks [...]