Economic Updates

In this month’s recap: Stocks prices surged in August as investors cheered positive news of a potential COVID-19 treatment and welcomed a month-long succession of upbeat economic data.

In this month’s recap: stocks rose as better-than-expected corporate earnings and progress on a COVID-19 vaccine encouraged investors.

In this month’s recap: stocks notched a solid gain, overcoming the rise of reported COVID-19 cases and plans of a slowdown in economic re-openings.

In this month’s recap: Stocks rebounded sharply, fueled by a flattening of the COVID-19 curve and positive results from clinical trial investigating a treatment for the virus.

In this month’s recap: The CARES Act moves to assist Americans quarantined by COVID-19, providing relief with a $2T stimulus package; markets worldwide react to coronavirus-related volatility.

In this month’s recap: As 2019 ends, the U.S. and China agree to a phase-one trade deal, and stocks, gold, and oil all advance.

In this month’s recap: stocks stay in rally mode, helped by hints that the U.S. and China may be closing in on a phase-one trade deal; hiring bounces back; key real estate indicators look stronger.

In this month’s recap: another rate cut from the Federal Reserve, a strong hint of a partial U.S.-China trade deal, and stocks reach record heights again. Investors and traders found much to like in October. The S&P 500 gained 2.04% during the month, topping 3,000 again. The Federal Reserve made its third interest rate cut of the year. Word came that the U.S. and China could be headed toward the first phase of a new, bilateral trade agreement.

Predictably, the topic of negative interest rates has received quite a bit of media coverage ever since, so you may be wondering what it means and whether the Fed will take the President’s advice. On its face, the idea of interest rates below 0% might seem absurd – the bank pays customers to take a loan?  Customers pay the bank to hold their money? Is that even possible? Theoretically, the answer is yes. 

In this month’s recap: The Fed cuts interest rates, the price of oil spikes, and trade negotiations between the U.S. and China are rescheduled.

 

September brought an economic event that was widely expected: a quarter-point cut in short-term interest rates by the Federal Reserve. It also brought an attack on two of the world’s largest oil fields that threatened to dent global crude output. A resumption of U.S.-China trade talks was scheduled for October, and White House officials decided to delay some planned tariff increases. Clear signals of an economic slowdown emerged from both the eurozone and China; some of the key U.S. economic indicators looked much better by comparison. While all these events transpired, the S&P 500 gained 1.72% for the month.¹