Financial News and Portfolio Management Discussion through July 6th

Global stocks rose over the week driven by renewed hopes of a trade agreement between the US and China.  The S&P 500 rose 1.7% and the Dow gained 1.2% for the week. Abroad, Europe was up 1.4% and Japan climbed 2.2% for the week.  The yield on the 10-year Treasury finished the week at 2.04%.

Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met after the G-20 summit and got trade talks started once again with leaders agreeing to hold off on additional tariffs.

OPEC agreed to continue its existing oil cuts into the first quarter of next year.

US manufacturing eased again in June, while still showing growth, the pace of growth has slipped for three straight months.  Abroad UK manufacturing had its worst month in over 6 years and manufacturing activity in China contracted for the first time in four months.

US automakers in the first half of the year posted six straight months of declining sales compared to the year earlier.

US hiring in June was much stronger than expected with companies hiring 224,000 employees compared to an expected 165,000.  The unemployment rate ticked up at 3.7% as more individuals were looking for work.

Second-quarter corporate earnings are expected to come in slightly below last year’s levels.

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