Category Archives: Economy/Stock Market

A sharp selloff in China’s market resulted in a rocky trading day for the U.S. markets. Most blue chip stocks retreated, and Energy stocks traded lower on a downswing in crude oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 0.8%, settling at $36.76 a barrel. Trading on Tuesday closed with gains, with Consumer Staples and Telecommunication stocks helping the tepid recovery from the sharp selloff that started the year. The rally was short-lived as the markets closed Wednesday in the red zone, brought down by Energy stocks. Additionally, Energy Information Administration showed an unexpected increase of 2.6 million barrels in crude inventories in the past week. Analysts were forecasting a decline in reserves. National Association of Realtors data showed a 0.9% decrease in November for pending home sales. Stocks continued to tumble Thursday following Labor Department data which showed that initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 277,000 last week. The decline seemed to level out on Friday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed an addition of 292,000 jobs in December. Looking elsewhere, manufacturing levels made a fractional retreat in December. The Institute for Supply Management’s survey slipped to 48.2 from November’s reading of 48.6.

The markets started the week on a positive note with Energy and Telecom stocks posting slight gains ahead of the December Federal Reserve meeting. The good news continued Tuesday as Energy stocks stepped up on a rebound in crude oil. Consumer prices held steady in November, as the Consumer Price Index was unchanged last month after climbing 0.2% in October. Discounting food and energy prices, the CPI jumped up 0.2% in November. The week’s rally continued on Wednesday when stocks stepped up on news from the December Federal Reserve meeting where policymakers boosted the benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to between 0.25% and 0.50%. On another note, Energy stocks traded lower on a dip in crude oil. The markets closed trading at session low levels on Thursday. Labor Department data showed initial jobless claims decreased by 11,000 to 271,000 last week, while continuing claims fell by 7,000 to 2.238 million. The slip continued on Friday when the market closed at session lows. Stocks declined amid another downswing in oil. 

Energy stocks weighed on the markets Monday as crude oil futures settled at their lowest level in nearly seven years. The decline continued Tuesday with brands in the Materials and Industrials sectors trading lower in the wake of falling oil prices. The lower oil prices also weighed on the global markets. Technology stocks took their turn bringing the markets lower mid-week, while crude oil continued to slip. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude-oil inventories fell last week but distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, grew more than expected. On Thursday, the markets reversed course as the Labor Department showed a jump in initial jobless claims. First time claims for unemployment benefits rose by 13,000 to 282,000 last week. Continuing claims increased by 82,000 to 2.243 million in the last week of November. Unfortunately a rally was thwarted on Friday as Energy stocks continued to trade lower. Market action this week marked the weakest Dow and NASDAQ performance in a month and the worst week for the S&P 500 since August.

Indices were down on Monday but closed out the month of November with gains. Energy and Utilities stocks posted gains, while Healthcare and Consumer Staples weighed on the market. Indices moved into positive territory on Tuesday amid a variety of economic news. The ISM Manufacturing Index fell from 50.1 to 48.6. Both new orders and production dropped below 50. The markets volleyed back to the negative side midweek as a result of a dip in crude oil prices and other economic news. Crude oil fell below the $40 level for the first time in three months. Prices slipped following news that domestic reserves increased for the tenth straight week. On another note, comments from the Federal Reserve’s “Beige Book” report, which covered activity from October through mid-November, showed a modest to moderate rate of expansion in most districts. Stocks traded well into the red on Thursday, despite crude oil’s gain of 2.9% for the day. Friday’s news that November nonfarm payrolls came in 5.5% higher than consensus estimates, drove the market to its biggest gain since early September. The news may have also opened the way for the Federal Reserve to consider raising interest rates later this month.

The markets started the week on a positive trajectory with gains in both the Energy and Utilities sectors. Trading ended mixed on Tuesday. The Energy sector weighed on the markets as a result of a downswing in crude oil. The Consumer Price Index ticked up by 0.2%. Industrial production decreased by 0.2% in October, while manufacturing output, however, increased by 0.4%. Mid-week, investors reacted favorably to minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Comments from the October meeting indicated the majority of members supported a rate hike in December, although no decision had been made, and any move continues to be data dependent. The markets pulled back on Thursday with Healthcare stocks trading lower while Technology stocks traded higher. Labor Department data showed initial jobless claims decreased by 5,000 to 271,000 last week. On Friday, the markets were buoyed by news of stronger-than-anticipated sales from retailers. The weekly results ended strong ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday and the beginning of the holiday shopping season.

The week began on a down note with consumer brands dragging the markets lower. Investors were also likely worried about a potential interest rate rise and the health of the global economy. On Tuesday, the both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index inched higher while the NASDAQ shed some points. Materials, Technology and Telecom sectors traded slightly lower. Stocks retreated amid a variety of economic news mid-week. The MBA Mortgage Applications Survey showed applications fell in the last week while mortgage rates were higher for the third consecutive week following a strong October jobs report last Friday. Barring any significant hit to the economy, the Federal Reserve will likely begin to raise rates in December. Indices closed well into red territory on Thursday with Financial and Energy stocks leading the way down. Labor Department data, released today, showed initial jobless claims held steady at 276,000 last week, while the four-week moving average increased by 5,000 to 267,750. The decline continued Friday with Energy stocks continuing to decline amid lower crude oil prices. Retail sales showed a 0.1% increase while U.S. Producer Prices decreased 0.4% in October. In a preliminary measure, the University of Michigan Sentiment Index hit 93.1 for November from 90 in October. Economists had expected a reading of 91.

The week began with positive results, with the Energy sector leading the way up. The rally pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average back into positive territory for 2015 for the first time since July. The rally in Energy continued on Tuesday, bolstered by rising crude costs. Additionally, monthly auto sales increased. The markets did a turnabout mid-week on a variety of economic news. Services industry activity ticked up in October, with the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index rising from 56.9 to 59.1. The results exceeded consensus expectations. On another note, the U.S. trade gap contracted to $40.8 billion in September, from a revised $48 billion in August. Thursday’s trading session closed slightly lower in the wake of mixed earnings reports. Stronger-than-expected jobs numbers led to mixed moves on Friday. The Dow and NASDAQ tacked on some points while the S&P 500 traded fractionally into the red. October employment data exceeded expectations, with the U.S. economy adding 271,000 jobs last month versus expectations of 180,000. The unemployment rate slipped to five percent. Additionally, August’s numbers were upwardly revised by 17,000, while September’s results were revised down by 5,000.

Stocks dipped Monday as investors looked ahead to a big week of quarterly reports and the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The dip continued Tuesday as energy stocks weighed on the market because of a dip in crude oil. Healthcare stocks in the S&P 500 rose the most on Tuesday, up 1.7%. Treasury prices rose as well, pushing the 10-year note’s yield down to 2.03%. When the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates on hold and toned down its concerns about global financial markets, investors reacted kindly, pushing the markets higher for the day. Crude Oil also moved higher, bolstering Energy stocks. Trading ended slightly in the red zone on Thursday, as the Commerce Department showed real GDP increased 1.5% in the third quarter, which was well shy of the 3.9% advance during the second quarter. Indices traded into red territory on Friday. Stocks may have dipped for the day, but the markets ended the month well in the green.

U.S. stocks edged higher on Monday despite a drop in crude oil that weighed heavily on Energy stocks. Technology stocks led the rally to ultimately push the start of the week into positive territory. Healthcare stocks and a series of lackluster earnings dragged down the markets on Tuesday, with the pressure from the Healthcare sector continuing on Wednesday because of criticism of drug prices. Technology stocks pushed the markets higher on Thursday with better-than-expected earnings. Existing-home sales rose in September, with total sales up 4.7% from August and 8.8% from September 2014. Impressive earnings from big-name Technology stocks pushed the S&P 500 back into positive territory for the year. 

The week began with a strong rally that propelled the S&P 500 index to its biggest five-day percentage gain since 2011 as investors bet low interest rates would stick around for longer as a result of the weaker-than-expected jobs report released last Friday. The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index hit 56.9, which was well shy of August’s reading of 59 and expectations of 57.5. The markets were mixed on Tuesday while the Commerce Department data showed the U.S. trade deficit grew nearly 16% to $48.3 billion in August. Exports slipped by 2% to $185.1 billion. Stocks led the markets back into green territory Wednesday with Energy stocks trading higher despite a dip in crude oil prices. The rally continued Thursday when the Federal Reserve released comments from their September meeting. The report showed that members believed it would be prudent to wait until risks eased before tightening monetary policy, noting that weaker Chinese growth and market volatility would prove an obstacle to inflation hitting the Fed’s 2% target rate. The week was capped off with strong gains across several sectors.