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Stock Markets Heading into the Christmas-holiday shortened trading week, stocks are set to finish the year strong. The S&P 500 has now posted 31 all-time highs in 2019, driven by sizable gains in the technology sector, progress on Brexit, the U.S./China trade front, and continued strength in the U.S. jobs market. Despite an impeachment vote […]

Stock Markets As expected, U.S. stocks rallied to fresh record highs after the three main issues that have created most of the uncertainty this year came to a positive close. The trade deal, Brexit and the Fed policy all moved to new positive levels. The U.S. and China reached a “phase one” trade deal which […]

Stock Markets While it was trade-deals that were expected to drive the markets last week, the limelight moved quickly to economic fundamentals, which drove global stocks higher. It appears that international stocks outperformed domestic ones based on the fourth straight month of improvement in global manufacturing PMI, which is seen as a reflection of global […]

Stock Markets U.S. stocks rallied once again last week to a another all-time high. That accounts for the 26th record high of the current year. Clearly there is continued optimism that the US and China are making progress in their efforts to pound out a “Phase 1” trade deal, hopefully before year-end. Other data reinforced […]

Stock Markets The U.S. stock markets had a bit of a reprieve this week with a small decline. That comes after six continuous weeks of advances and new highs. The volatility level continues to be low, but still a concern. The news on the U.S./China trade made things murky for investors who seem unsure if […]

Stock Markets In what is the longest streak in two years, U.S. stocks reached another all-time record high, gaining for the sixth straight week this week.  US-China trade negotiations remain fluid and, the possibility of a limited deal between the two countries has been the real power behind the month-long market rally. The news seems […]

Stock Markets U.S. stocks extended recent gains this week, ending higher for the fifth week in a row. The continued signs of progress with U.S.-China trade negotiations accompanied by better-than-expected corporate earnings for the season, have helped ease the fears of recession for the whole month and moved investor sentiment into the positive zone. Treasury […]

Stock Markets U.S. stocks reached new record highs following the October jobs report which indicated that the economy added more jobs than expected. That is positive despite potential impact from significant events such as the GM worker strike and the loss of temporary U.S. Census jobs. In an expected move, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut […]

Stock Markets U.S. stocks closed near record highs this week as they rose for the third straight week. The primary driver of market action continues to be earnings. Nearly all third-quarter results coming in so far have been better than expected. The markets got an additional lift as reports that the U.S. and China are […]

Stock Markets U.S. stocks ended slighter higher in a week when better-than-expected earnings and some newfound optimism for a positive Brexit outcome were contrasted against continuing global growth concerns. This is the kickoff of the important third-quarter U.S. earnings season. Major banks were reporting solid earnings last week despite depressed investor expectations, which lead the […]