Current Trends & News
A weekly financial recap curated by SPC's team of wealth management and tax-integrated advisors.*
We monitor and explore the intricacies of the financial world and share insights into market developments.
Week of April 28, 2025
There has recently been a lot of negative sentiment. Many people – from consumers to small business owners, and from asset managers to investors – are feeling less optimistic. Here is the data.
Week of April 21, 2025
When investor preferences shift and money flows from one sector, industry, investment style or geographic region into another, it is called a market rotation.
Week of April 7, 2025
A sharp escalation in trade tensions sparked a stock market downturn despite news that the United States economy created far more jobs in March than economists had expected, reported Lucia Mutikani of Reuters.
Week of March 31, 2025
If you read the financial press, you may have seen the terms “risk-on” and “risk-off”. When investing, there is a risk-return spectrum.
Week of March 24, 2025
Last week, the Federal Reserve (Fed) left the federal funds rate unchanged, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell soothed markets.
Week of March 17, 2025
Last week, the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index moved into correction territory.
Week of March 10, 2025
The stock market does not provide level returns. In some years returns are positive, and in other years returns are negative.
Week of February 24, 2025
Broadly speaking, there are two types of investors: individual investors and institutional investors.
Week of January 27, 2025
What moves financial markets? The short answer is that stock prices are influenced by many factors.
Week of January 20, 2025
Last week, investors breathed a sigh of relief when the latest price data showed core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, moved lower in December.
Week of January 6, 2025
Stocks in the United States delivered a double-double—posting double-digit gains for a second year in a row.
Week of December 30, 2024
As we near the end of 2024, U.S. consumers were feeling optimistic. Every month the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers conducts about 600 interviews with American households...
Week of December 23, 2024
The Fed met expectations by lowering its policy rate one-quarter of a percentage point during their final policy meeting for 2024, as many economists had anticipated.
Week of December 16, 2024
The U.S. stock market has delivered exceptional performance over the past few years and remains on track to deliver solid returns in 2024.
Week of December 9, 2024
The performance of the U.S. stock market is striking. Last week, the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 closed at a record high for the 57th time this year, reported Rita Nazareth of Bloomberg.
Week of December 2, 2024
It is possible 2024 will end up in Wall Street’s bull market hall of fame, wrote Jan-Patrick Barnert of Bloomberg, because the year-to-date return of the S&P 500 ranks among its best performances of this century.
Week of November 25th, 2024
Investors shook off concerns about interest rates and inflation, and U.S. stocks climbed higher last week.
Week of November 18th, 2024
Last week, the strength of the United States economy slowed investors’ roll.
Week of November 11th, 2024
Last week, United States stock markets rallied, and the U.S. dollar gained against other currencies, following the presidential election.
Week of November 4th, 2024
For the American economy, a soft landing happens when the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to cool the economy and push inflation lower—and achieves its goal without causing a recession and significantly higher unemployment.
Week of October 28th, 2024
The United States election is less than two weeks away. The candidates are neck and neck.
Week of October 14th, 2024
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed above 5,800 for the first time.
Week of October 7th, 2024
Asset allocation is important because it helps investors manage the risk and rewards of investing.
Week of September 30th, 2024
The S&P 500 has had quite a year.
Week of September 23rd, 2024
In 2022, the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) began raising interest rates as it battled high rates of inflation.
Week of September 16th, 2024
The Consumer Price Index showed that inflation was 2.5 percent year over year in August.
Week of September 2nd, 2024
After gyrating wildly throughout the month, major U.S. stock indexes finished August higher.
Week of August 19th, 2024
After two weeks of slow and jolting market performance, a bounty of positive news calmed investors and lifted stock markets higher last week.
Week of August 12th, 2024
Last week, financial markets were volatile.
Week of August 5th, 2024
It is often said that markets hate uncertainty. There was a lot of uncertainty last week, and it showed.
Week of July 15th, 2024
In May, Pew Research asked Americans about the biggest problems facing our nation.
Week of July 8th, 2024
Enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI), optimism about inflation, and expectations that the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) will begin to lower rates this year have helped global and U.S. stock markets, overall, push higher in 2024.
Week of July 1st, 2024
Last week was a mixed bag as investors weighed positive economic news against concerns that stock prices for some chipmakers may not be too high.
Week of June 17th, 2024
Inflation is lower – and so are some retail prices.
Week of June 10th, 2024
The S&P 500 benefitted from reports that forecast a slowdown in hiring for May.
Week of June 3rd, 2024
Overall, May was a good month for investors.
Week of May 27th, 2024
The usually weak months of June and August tend to be quite strong in an election year, so be open to potential strength as we head into fall.
Week of May 20th, 2024
Policymakers, central bankers, economists, and investors look at leading economic indicators to forecast where the economy may be headed.
Week of May 13th, 2024
Last week, Federal Reserve officials spoke about keeping the federal funds rate higher until it becomes clear that inflation will reach the Fed’s two percent target rate.
Week of May 6th, 2024
What will the Federal Reserve do?
Week of May 22nd, 2023
While major U.S. stock indices are in positive territory year-to-date, market gains have been concentrated in just a few companies’ stocks.
Week of May 15th, 2023
The Consumer Sentiment Index fell to a six-month low in May, dropping 9.1 percent month-to-month.
Week of May 8th, 2023
Last week, the April employment report for the United States arrived. It showed that unemployment dropped to the lowest level in more than 50 years – 3.4 percent.
Week of May 1st, 2023
Despite more than a year of aggressive Federal Reserve rate increases, the United States economy is still growing, albeit more slowly.
Week of April 24th, 2023
It’s earnings season – the time when publicly traded companies report on how profitable they were during the first quarter of 2023.
Week of April 17th, 2023
Inflation eased, as expected, although it remained above the Federal Reserve (Fed)’s target rate. The Treasury yield curve remained inverted with three-month Treasury bills yielding more than 10-year Treasury notes.
Week of April 10th, 2023
Recent economic data and a possible credit crunch, resulting from upheaval in the banking sector, suggest growth is slowing. After viewing the data, some say we’re heading for a soft landing, and others say a recession is coming.
Week of April 3rd, 2023
So far this year, the direction of the economy and financial markets has been elusive.
Week of March 27th, 2023
Investors are willing to take on risk to achieve their long-term financial goals, but not everyone manages risk in the same way.
Week of March 20th, 2023
Financial markets were volatile last week as investors parsed the risks around bank closures, central banks offered additional protections for depositors, and regulators took a harder look at bank balance sheets.
Week of March 13th, 2023
Early last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress the Fed remains committed to bringing inflation down to 2 percent.
Week of March 6th, 2023
Stocks and bonds are two of the better-known asset classes in the family of potential investments. Last week, they were in opposition.
Week of February 27th, 2023
Is it good news or bad news? The answer depends on your perspective. Last week, we learned that:
Week of February 20th, 2023
There were some unexpected surprises in last week’s economic data that caused markets to reassess expectations for 2023.