A Turbulent Week Inflation moved to center stage last week with the release of April’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Producer Price Index. Both numbers came near their 40-year highs but were lower than March’s year-over-year numbers. The results heightened investor anxiety about future Fed monetary tightening and its impact on economic growth. In […] READ MORE
A Wild Week After successive daily gains to begin the week, stocks staged a powerful relief rally in response to Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcement, aided by Fed Chair Powell’s comment that a 75-basis point hike was not under active consideration. Stocks, however, dropped the following day as investors reassessed the implications of […] READ MORE
Stocks Slide Trading was volatile in the final week of April as investors struggled with the crosscurrents of global economic growth anxieties stemming from widening COVID-related lockdowns in China and a fresh batch of corporate earnings reports. Monday set the tone for the week. Stocks staged an intraday reversal, wiping out a deep morning decline […] READ MORE
Focus Comes Off Earnings With the inflation report in the rearview mirror and a Fed meeting two weeks away, many may have expected corporate earnings to be in focus last week. Comments by Jerome Powell stole the spotlight. Investors began the week awaiting earnings reports looking for insight into businesses handling the latest inflation, a […] READ MORE
Watching Bonds Stocks began the week moving lower as bond yields climbed higher, with growth stocks suffering some of the steepest declines. Investors considered China’s ongoing lockdown warily, worried it might worsen supply-chain issues. Historically high consumer and producer price inflation reports were shrugged off by the stock and bond markets in the main, with […] READ MORE
Fed Roils Markets After a positive start to the week, stock prices turned lower on a more hawkish tone from Fed officials. On Tuesday, investors were surprised by comments from Fed governor Lael Brainard, one of the Fed’s more dovish members, who suggested the Fed could take a more aggressive approach with interest rates. The […] READ MORE