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 August 8th
The strength of the United States economy continues to surprise analysts and economists.
Week of August 1st
Last week, we learned from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) that economic growth in the United States slowed for the second consecutive quarter.
Week of July 25th
A lot of people are worried that a recession may be in our future. Some think it may already be here.
Week of July 18th
The Fed is focused on calming inflation.
Week of July 11th
The Fed is focused on calming inflation.
Week of July 4th
This has been a challenging year in many respects
Week of June 27th
Last week, bad news was good news.
Week of June 20th
Last week, the Federal Reserve (Fed) delivered a message that it is serious about fighting inflation.
Week of June 13th
Inflation is proving to be far more tenacious than markets had hoped.
Week of June 6th
How strong is the United States economy?
Week of May 30th
Last week, major U.S. stock indices moved higher for the first time in 7 weeks.
Week of May 23rd
One of the most challenging times for investors is a market downturn.
Week of May 16th
What is a bear market?
Week of May 9th
We have recently seen an uptick in various forms of identity theft.
Week of May 2nd
To-date, economic, coronavirus-related, and geopolitical events have taken a toll from stock and bond markets, as well as the U.S. economy.
Week of April 25th
The Fed’s goal is to slow high inflation, which has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and China’s coronavirus lockdowns, without pushing the American economy into a recession.
Week of April 18th
Determining how quickly prices are rising or falling – and where they may be headed in the future – is not simple.
Week of April 11th
The first quarter of 2022 was jam-packed with volatility-inducing events: rising inflation, war in Ukraine, rising interest rates, sanctions on Russia, and a new COVID-19 outbreak in China.
Week of April 4th
Congress recently asked the Federal Reserve to use its tools to promote price stability and maximum employment.
Week of March 28th
In early March, almost two-thirds of Americans who participated in a Nationwide Retirement Institute survey said the Federal Reserve should take more aggressive action on inflation.
Week of March 21st
Markets were reassured by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)’s actions last week.
Week of March 14th
Approximately 3 million people have now fled Ukraine since Russian’s invasion began in February.
Week of March 7th
As the war in Ukraine intensified last week, financial markets grappled with uncertainty.
Week of February 28th
Last week, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Week of February 21st
Investors’ appetite for risk diminished as the Russian threat to Ukraine intensified.
Week of February 14th
Why did stock markets in the United States finish the week lower?
Week of February 7th
To say that economists did not have great expectations for the January employment report might be understating their position.
Week of January 31st
Last week, the January stock market decline was interrupted by a Friday afternoon rally.
Week of January 24th
It’s widely recognized that people do not make perfect financial decisions.
Week of January 17th
If you skimmed the headlines last week, you may have seen that retail sales – the purchases we make from stores in-person or online – declined 1.9 percent in December.
Week of January 10th
In the 1950’s, then Fed Chair William McChesney Martin described the Federal Reserve as “the chaperone who has ordered the punch bowl removed just when the party was really warming up.”
Week of January 3rd
As we head into the new year, let’s take a look back at 2021.
Week of December 27th
Investors were feeling bullish.
Week of December 20th
Stock and bond markets diverged.
Week of December 13th
When the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) last week, it showed that inflation was at levels last seen in 1982.
Week of December 6th
Last week, employment and manufacturing data confirmed that the United States economy continued to strengthen in November, but positive economic news was overshadowed by investors’ concerns about the spread of coronavirus and Federal Reserve policy.
Week of November 29th
Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in Europe, climbing from about 700,000 new cases a week in September to 2.6 million a week in November, reported Richard Pérez-Peña and Jason Horowitz of the New York Times.
Week of November 22nd
The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index finished last week slightly higher and has gained about 6 percent during the past 25 days; however, investors have curbed their enthusiasm.
Week of November 15th
Last week, investors noticed it.
Week of November 8th
Investor bullishness ticked higher last week on all four investor sentiment gauges tracked by Barron’s.
Week of November 1st
Last week, we learned that economic growth slowed in the third quarter as a new wave of COVID-19 surged across the United States, reported The Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Week of October 25th
MESSI is a type of inflation that occurs when “strong, but cooling demand is met by constrained, but accelerating supply, leading to transitory, yet sticky inflation.”
Week of October 18th
Barron’s Big Money Poll is an exclusive survey of market sentiment among professional investors.
Week of October 11th
The week started with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index experiencing daily gains and losses of about one percent.
Week of October 4th
If you look back over the last 20 years, September has been the worst performing month for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, according to Nasdaq.
Week of September 27th
Central banks have a lot of influence on investors, markets and economies.
Week of September 20th
Every month, Bank of America surveys global asset managers.
Week of September 13th
The Delta variant could take a toll on economic growth.
Week of September 6th
Stagflation is a combination of ‘stagnation’ and ‘inflation.’
Week of August 30th
Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s words helped grow the week’s equity market returns.
Week of August 23rd
The benefits provided by recent stimulus packages seem to be fading.
Week of August 16th
The most common way to measure economic output is Gross Domestic Product.
Week of August 9th
For months, investors have wondered when the Federal Reserve (Fed) might begin to “normalize” its policies, a process that will eventually lead to higher interest rates.
Week of August 2nd
For decades, investors have recognized the investment potential of China.
Week of July 26th
Last week, the National Bureau of Economic Research finally announced the official dates for the recession that occurred in 2020.
Week of July 19th
The term “peak growth” has become popular.
Week of July 12th
Equity investors appeared to be focused on the United States Treasury bond market.
Week of July 5th
The Economist developed the Global Normalcy Index (GNI) to measure the post-pandemic return to normal.
Week of June 28th
Infrastructure is essential and sometimes taken for granted.
Week of June 21st
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) met last week.
Week of June 14th
On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index Summary, which showed prices were up 5 percent year-to-year.
Week of June 7th
Economic growth in the United States is on the rebound.
Week of May 31st
One side effect of the pandemic was a collapse in demand for oil.
Week of May 24th
Markets hate uncertainty, and recently there has been plenty of it.
Week of May 17th
Ever since the financial crisis, central banks have pursued expansionary monetary policies to encourage reflation and avoid deflation.
Week of May 10th
Economists estimated 975,000 new jobs would be created in April.
Week of May 3rd
Week of April 26th
Last week, as investors weighed the news, strong corporate earnings were offset by higher grocery prices and rising numbers of global coronavirus cases.
Week of April 19th
The direction of bond yields is influenced by investors’ expectations for economic growth, among other factors.
Week of April 12th
Investors didn’t stumble over inflation last week. Why not?
Week of April 5th
Big economies tend to recover from recessions about as quickly as semi-trucks accelerate from stop lights.