Category: Weekly Market Commentary

Weekly Market Commentary March 3, 2021 The Markets Students of financial markets may have noted a historically unusual event last week. On Thursday, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes briefly matched the dividend yield for the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index. This type of convergence is uncommon. In normal times, the yield on… Read more »

Weekly Market Commentary February 24, 2021 The Markets It’s a contrarian’s dream come true. Contrarian investors like to buck the trend. They buy when other investors are selling and sell when others are buying. Last week, Bank of America (BofA) delivered a contrarian’s dream. BofA’s monthly survey of 225 global asset managers, who are responsible… Read more »

Weekly Market Commentary February 17, 2021 The Markets Way back, when radio disk jockeys played 45-rpm vinyl singles, the A-side of a disk was the song the record company was promoting and the other side – the flip side – held a song that sometimes had an equal or greater impact. For instance, the flip… Read more »

Weekly Market Commentary February 10, 2021 The Markets It’s not a black diamond ski run yet, but the yield curve for U.S. Treasuries is steeper than it has been in a while. A yield curve is the line on a graph showing yields for different maturities of bonds. Yield curves provide insight to bond investors’… Read more »

Weekly Market Commentary February 3, 2021 The Markets They say people watching the same event often see different things. That seems to have been the case last week when share prices of a few companies experienced tremendous volatility. Some cast the events as a David vs. Goliath morality tale, however, Michael Mackenzie of Financial Times… Read more »

Weekly Market Commentary January 27, 2021 The Markets Last week, as COVID-19 vaccination efforts continued, there was speculation about stock market corrections and asset bubbles. On Sunday morning, Bloomberg reported 63 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine had been administered across 56 countries. In the United States, 21.1 million shots have been delivered – about… Read more »

Weekly Market Commentary January 20, 2021 The Markets Investors were rocked by economic data showing the economy hit the brakes hard in December. Last week, major U.S. stock indices decelerated as investors gaped at the economic damage caused by the rising number of coronavirus cases around the world. There have been more than two million… Read more »

The Markets The event at the United States Capitol building had a resounding impact around the world, but it didn’t deter global stock markets. Last week, investors weighed the violent disruption of America’s 2020 presidential election process against the outcome of the Senate runoff in Georgia, and decided the latter was more significant. Financial Times… Read more »

The Markets Last week was the cherry on top of a turbulent year for investors. After the $900 billion fiscal stimulus bill was signed on Sunday, major U.S. stock indices moved higher. The Washington Post reported, “The S&P 500-stock index, the most widely watched gauge, is finishing the year up more than 16 percent. The… Read more »

The Markets U.S. stock markets remained calm as a fresh chapter opened in the coronavirus stimulus saga last week. Congress managed to cobble together a new stimulus package that was acceptable to both sides and pass it. The proposed package included money to help states distribute vaccines, an unemployment benefits extension, $600 checks for eligible… Read more »