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Financial Resources & News

Monthly Market Update (March 2023): 3 Things You Need to Know

Despite the banking-sector turmoil seen in March, the S&P 500 rose in March, helped by strong returns from growth stocks that were buoyed by falling bond yields. Here are 3 things you need to know: The Federal Reserve continued to hike interest rates by 25 bps in March bringing the Federal funds rate range to 4.75% to 5.00%. U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell admitted, the current bank stress will...

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Monthly Market Update (February 2023): 3 Things You Need to Know

There was a big repricing of inflation expectations over February, as the January Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed an uptick in inflation and the January Jobs report was much stronger than expected. Here are 3 things you need to know: 2yr U.S. inflation breakevens were up +85 basis points (bps) to 3.18%, having ended January at just 2.33%. This was the second largest monthly move higher since...

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Monthly Market Update (October): 3 Things You Need to Know

Although this year has felt spooky, the U.S. stock market rallied in October after enduring several straight months of losses, leading to optimism that the end of the bear market may be in sight. Here are 3 things you need to know: The S&P 500 ended the month up 8%. Ten of the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 rose during the month, with energy stocks leading the way higher.Gilts (a UK...

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Great Expectations – Q3 2022 GDP

By:  Thomas Steffanci, PhD, Senior Portfolio Manager The Q3 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 2.6% was in line with the consensus. But it was anything but normal. The increase was entirely driven by a large increase in the trade balance. Net exports surged 2.8% due to a 1.6% increase in exports of energy commodities and military hardware, and a 1.2% decrease in imports. Inventory...

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The November Employment Head Fake

By:  Thomas Steffanci, PhD, Senior Portfolio Manager The print of the monthly payroll employment number brings Wall Street cheers or anguish, filling the market airwaves with new prognostications of economic growth or stagnation. The November release was a clear example of such harrumphing. According to the Labor Department, employment rose by just 210,000, far below the consensus of a...

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Is the Real Unemployment Rate 2.3%?

Source: Michael Liebowitz, Realinvestmentadvice.com By:  Thomas Steffanci, PhD, Senior Portfolio Manager Is the real unemployment rate 2.3%? If you back out people who quit voluntarily to look for better paying jobs, the answer is yes. Quitters are still “employed”. They are in transition to other employment opportunities and should be considered as part of the labor force. If you adjust...

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August Monthly Economic Summary

Last month was an interesting month for the markets and below is the economic summary for August.  As always, if you have any questions or want to discuss more in-depth do not hesitate to give us a call! Sources: Sources: J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Economic Update; Bureau of Economic Analysis (www.bea.gov); Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov); Federal Open Market...

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Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole Economic Symposium Speech

By:  Thomas Steffanci, PhD, Senior Portfolio Manager The stock market (1) has reacted bullishly today to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s prepared remarks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, WY. It was his first public admission of where he stood on tapering that pushed stocks higher: “At the FOMC’s recent July meeting, I was of...

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Monthly Economic Summary (July)

Inflation has now well surpassed the Federal Reserve’s (FOMC) target, as the core PCE accelerated to +3.5% year-over-year.  The FOMC recognizes the need to reduce accommodation in the quarters ahead and we believe it will start tapering the pace of its purchases in December. As always, if you have any questions or want to discuss the economy or markets more in-depth do not hesitate to give...

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Monthly Economic Summary (June 2021)

Last month was an interesting month for the markets and below is the economic summary for June.  As always, if you have any questions or want to discuss more in-depth do not hesitate to give us a call! Sources: Sources: J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Economic Update; Bureau of Economic Analysis (www.bea.gov); Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov); Federal Open Market Committee...

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Economic Summary – May

Last month was an interesting month for the markets and below is the economic summary for May.  As always, if you have any questions or want to discuss more in-depth do not hesitate to give us a call! Sources: Sources: J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Economic Update; Bureau of Economic Analysis (www.bea.gov); Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov); Federal Open Market Committee...

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Monthly Economic Summary

February is behind us as we now enter March. This time last year was one for the record books and look at the economic summary below to better understand what transpired over the last month.  As always, if you have any questions or want to discuss more in-depth do not hesitate to give us a call! Sources: Sources: J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Economic Update; Bureau of Economic Analysis...

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