01 Apr 2016

Posted at 11:53h in The Friday Brief by
The Federal Reserve continues to be the guiding light for stock and bond investors. This week Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in a speech “Given the risks to the outlook, I consider it appropriate for the committee to proceed cautiously in adjusting policy.” Following the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on March 15-16, the Fed sharply reduced its projected path of interest-rate rises this year, forecasting a total increase of half a percentage point, down from the full percentage point increase they expected in December. “The major thing that’s changed between December and March that affects the baseline outlook is a slightly weaker projected pace of global growth,” she said. “Global developments pose ongoing risks,” she added, citing specifically the dangers posed by the economic slowdown in China and the collapse in the price of oil, according to reports in the WSJ.

29 Jan 2016

Posted at 12:22h in The Friday Brief by
Evidence is mounting that the US economy is not immune to the contagion of the global economic slowdown. The Commerce Department announced today that the US economy expanded at an anemic (seasonally adjusted) 0.7% in the fourth quarter. This compares to advances of 2% in third quarter and 3.9% in second quarter of last year. Some argue that seasonal adjustments currently used by government statisticians do not reflect the evolving economy, but it's hard to see how the economy escapes the downdrafts of global slowing, an unprecedented drop in oil prices and a surging dollar.

23 Jul 2010

Posted at 15:03h in The Friday Brief by
The combination of strong earnings reports and guidance from giants like Alcoa, Intel, Microsoft, Ford, UPS, 3M along with better-than-expected economic data in Europe cheered equity investors this week. Despite the enactment of sweeping economic reform legislation, potential tax hikes promised by the White House and comments from Fed chief Ben Bernanke that “the economic outlook remains unusually uncertain” the rally continued.