All the news you need to stay informed about what’s currently driving the market – courtesy of Raffa Wealth Management, LLC.
Global markets rallied to end the week on the news that an agreement between Greece and its creditors was close. The S&P 500 was flat and the Dow edged up 0.2% for the week. Internationally, Japan sank 3.7% and Europe rose 1.4% for the week. The sell off that has seen the Shanghai Composite Index lose almost a third of its value since mid June also appears to have stabilized with a 5.2% gain for the week. Chinese government officials made almost daily interventions in the market over the past two weeks. Oil prices plunged over global growth worries falling to $52.74 a barrel. The yield on the 10 year Treasury rose to 2.41%, near the high for the year, as investors moved out of safe haven investments. Article
After Greece voted strongly “no” to creditors’ demands in order to receive further bailout aid with 61% voting against the conditions in the referendum, Greek leaders proposed a very similar package to European leaders that was tentatively accepted during the weekend. Article
In the minutes from the Fed’s June meeting officials were concerned over issues in Greece and China and the domestic economy on the prospect of raising interest rates. However in a speech this week, Yellen said that she expects the Fed to begin raising interest rates later this year.
The IMF dropped its world growth forecast from 3.5% to 3.3% for 2015, the slowest pace since the financial crisis. It also reduced its expectations for the US to 2.5% from 3.1%.
Samsung projected that profit and revenue for the second quarter likely fell from a year ago as sales were worse than expected.
Microsoft announced it was cutting 7,800 jobs and significantly writing down the value of its Nokia unit as it struggles with its Smartphone business.
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