Significant headline news events were in short supply last week yet the major indices moved higher which has been the path of least resistance. For the week, large caps outpaced small cap stocks; the market leading Nasdaq rose 1.36%, followed by the S&P 500® Index (1.16%), Dow Jones Industrial Average (0.92%) and the Russell 2000® Index (0.50%). Economic data, including the Consumer Confidence Index, continue to support the markets. The Index’s 100.8 reading for August is the seco… View More
September began with across-the-board declines in response to uncertainties related to trade tariffs with China and the NAFTA negotiations with Canada. Last week the Dow Jones Industrial Average led the markets with a fractional 0.19% loss; the S&P 500® Index declined 1.03%, the Nasdaq fell 2.55% and the Russell 2000® Index lost 1.58%. On Wednesday, trade negotiations between the U.S. and Canada resumed but the parties had not reached an agreement as the week ended; the pressure builds… View More
NAFTA negotiators remain upbeat about the prospects of a deal. This will be an "agreement in principle" rather than a full deal which means that while it won't be signed, it can still trigger the formal Congressional review so that Mexico's current President is able to sign it before his term ends and he leaves office. However, on Friday, negotiations between the U.S. and Canada appear stalled in meeting the White House’s imposed deadline. Even so, President Trump plans to notify Congress o… View More
Last week you heard a lot about the longest bull market in our countries history. The Purest definition of a bull market is “a market advance without a pull back or sell of greater than 20%”. We do not necessarily agree with the "longest bull market" headlines from last week. Both 2011 and 2015 witnessed massive drawdowns at the stock level with over 70% of issues down 20% in 2011 and 63% during 2015. The Russell 2000 was down by 30% and 27% in each respective year and global equities also e… View More
The major indices, with the exception of the Nasdaq, ended higher for the week despite heightened volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.41%; the S&P 500® and the Russell 2000® Indices rose .59% and .36%, respectively. The Nasdaq’s -.29% decline was due, in part, to a sell-off in Tesla; the company disclosed an SEC subpoena of directors following the tweet from CEO Elon Musk about a pending deal to take the company private; the SEC was already investigating potentially m… View More