Financial News and Portfolio Management Discussion through August 15th

US stocks rose over the week on positive economic news and corporate earnings topping expectations.  The S&P 500 gained 0.6% and the Dow surged 1.8% for the week.  Abroad, the FTSE All World Ex US was climbed 1.8% for the week.  The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed over the week to end at 0.71%, its highest level in nearly two months.

Weekly initial jobless claims dropped to 963,000 for the past week, the first time below 1 million since the pandemic hit the US in March, and was better than estimates.

US retail sales rose 1.2% in July, surpassing the retail spending level before the pandemic.

US CPI rose 0.6% in July and core prices rose 0.6% as well.

The UK economy contracted 20.4% in the second quarter, or 59.8% on an annualized basis.  It was the worst contraction seen in Europe.  Comparably, Germany and the US contracted 10%, Italy declined 12%, France 14%, and Spain 19%.

Of the 91% of companies on the S&P 500 that had reported by Monday, 82% had beaten analysts’ profit forecasts, according to FactSet.

There is no guarantee that any investment strategy, including those described here, will be successful. Any investment or investment strategy can lose money. Past performance does not guarantee or predict future results. You should not assume that any discussion or information contained herein serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Raffa Wealth Management, LLC. This information was gathered from reliable sources, but we cannot guarantee accuracy. Indexes do not reflect the fees associated with actual investments and such fees would reduce the performance illustrated. Source: FMG Suite, LLC.
Bookmark this page