All the news you need to stay informed about what’s currently driving the market – courtesy of Raffa Wealth Management, LLC.
US Stocks ended the week mixed after volatile trading that saw the market hit new highs before a selloff of small cap companies. Fears over weakening global growth drove the decline. The Dow and S&P 500 both hit record highs during the week, but the S&P 500 finished flat the Dow finished down 0.6% and the NASDAQ finished up 0.5%. Internationally, Europe was relatively flat gaining 0.1% and Japan fell 0.7% for the week. The 10 year Treasury yield hit its lowest point in seven months during the week and finished at 2.52%. Article
US retail sales rose just 0.1% falling short of expectations of a rebound out of the winter months. Article
Inflation rose 0.3% in April, the largest increase since last June to bring the annual inflation rate to 2%. Article
Economic activity in the Euro zone grew at a meager 0.8% annual rate in the first quarter.
Housing starts surged 13.2% in April driven by an increase in multifamily building to their highest level in five months. Also building permits rose 8% to hit the highest level in more than 5 years.
Walmart’s sales fell for a fifth straight quarter and its profit dropped 5%. The firm also warned that they expect weakness in future quarters. Article
AT&T agreed to purchase DirecTV for $49 billion creating a major media and television player that would have 26 million TV subscribers.
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