Author: Christina Michalczak

The Markets Why are stock markets wary of tariffs? In two of the last three weeks, tariff announcements led to late week stock market sell-offs. Stocks quickly recovered lost value, but uncertainty about the administration’s trade policy and the potential impact of that policy on U.S. companies remained. That’s likely to be the case until… Read more »

The Markets Optimism headed south on Friday. After rising for most of the week, stock markets lost momentum last Friday as economic data raised doubts about further Federal Reserve rate cuts, reported Rita Nazareth of Bloomberg. Late in the day, President Trump announced new tariffs would be imposed this week, and stocks dropped into negative… Read more »

The Markets Wait! What just happened? Last week, investors were inundated with market-moving data and news. Stock markets gyrated as investors tried to process everything that was occurring. Here’s some of what happened: China surprised the artificial intelligence industry The week got off to a rough start with major United States stock indices declining sharply… Read more »

The Markets What moves financial markets? The short answer is: Lots of things! Almost one hundred years ago, Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd wrote, “the market is a voting machine, whereon countless individuals register choices which are the product partly of reason and partly of emotion.” Today, the same holds true. Stock prices are… Read more »

The Markets As the markets turn. Last week, investors breathed a sigh of relief when the latest price data showed core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, moved lower in December. Investors have been worried because economists forecasted inflation would be stickier in December, reported Frank Lee of Morningstar. If that proved out,… Read more »

The Markets Bond yields are rising—and they have investors’ attention. Last year, the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) lowered the federal funds rate by one percent. (The federal funds rate is the interest rate the Fed charges banks. It influences other interest rates.) This shift in Fed policy made a lot of people happy. Companies,… Read more »

The Markets Hello, 2025! As we head into a new year, it can be helpful to look back at the previous year—and 2024 was a doozy. Stocks in the United States delivered a double-double—posting double-digit gains for a second year in a row. That kind of performance is a relative rarity and has only occurred… Read more »

The Markets Consumers were more optimistic. Investors were less so. As we neared the end of 2024, U.S. consumers were feeling optimistic. Every month the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers conducts about 600 interviews with American households, asking interviewees about their personal finances, business conditions, and buying conditions. In December 2024, the Index of… Read more »

The Markets But that’s not what I wanted! Last week, markets were about as happy as a toddler opening a gift they didn’t like. The first upsetting event followed the Federal Reserve (Fed)’s final policy meeting for 2024. The Fed met expectations by lowering its policy rate one-quarter of a percentage point, as many economists… Read more »

The Markets How high can U.S. stocks fly? The U.S. stock market has delivered exceptional performance over the past few years and remains on track to deliver solid returns in 2024. “It isn’t a secret that U.S. stocks have outperformed the rest of the world. Over the past decade, the S&P 500 returned 13 [percent]… Read more »