US stocks rose over the week on positive earnings reports and a positive reaction to the Fed meeting. The S&P 500 rose 1.7% and the Dow edged down 0.2% for the week. Abroad, the FTSE All World Ex US was down 1.0% for the week. Gold ended the week at a new all time high of $1,963. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell for the fourth straight week to end the week at 0.54%. Stocks, bonds and commodities posted their best simultaneous four month performance on record back to 1976.

The Fed concluded their July policy meeting saying they would continue to hold the Fed Funds rate near zero and continue to increase holdings of Treasuries and other securities. The Fed extended all its emergency lending programs by three months to the end of the year to help support the economy.

US GDP contracted at a record annual rate of 32.9% in the second quarter.

Weekly initial unemployment claims rose for a second straight week to 1.43M. The total number of people receiving benefits rose by 867,000 to 17 million ending declines that had begun in Mid-May.

Consumer spending rose 5.6% in June.

With over 40% of S&P 500 companies reporting earnings to date they have posted a decline of 41% with 79% topping forecasts.