All the news you need to stay informed about what’s currently driving the market – courtesy of Raffa Wealth Management, LLC.
US stocks were up for the week on the surprise news that the Fed would not slow its bond purchase program this month. Stocks hit record highs on Wednesday on the surprise announcement, but drifted slightly lower over the final days of the week. The S&P 500 rose 1.3% and the Dow gained 0.5% for the week. International markets were up as well due to the Fed announcement as Europe gained 0.9% and Japan rose 1.4%. The 10 year Treasury yield sank on the news of the lack of Fed tapering to end the week at 2.735%. Article
The Fed elected to maintain its current level of bond purchases after its most recent policy meeting. They saw an economy that was still below their expectations and believed fiscal discord in Washington could provide further growth issues. They also lowered their growth forecast for the remainder of 2013 and 2014. The move came after months of Fed officials stating they were likely to begin to taper their bond purchases this month. Article
Lawrence Summers, considered one of the two front runners for the Fed Chairmen job opening in January, has pulled out of contention for the position. Article
Existing home sales rose 1.7% in August, surprising economist, hitting the highest level since 2007. Investors looking to buy now and lock in an interest rates before they potentially rose higher was a significant driver.
Oracle’s profit rose 8% and revenue increased 2% in the firms first fiscal quarter in a return to growth for the computer software company. However, the growth level fell short of expectations.
Blackberry announced it would cut its workforce by 40% and stop selling its devices to consumers as the situation at the original leader in the smartphone market grows dire. Article
J.P. Morgan agreed to pay $920 million in fines related to the ‘London Whale’ trading fiasco and $389 million in fines and refunds to customers for prompting credit card customers to buy services they didn’t want and making errors in debt collection lawsuits.
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