LPL: Pause And Reflect
Friday, June 23, 2023 Key Takeaways: After 15 straight months of raising interest rates, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept rates unchanged last week during their June monetary policy meeting. The pause in rate hikes was widely expected. The surprise came in the Fed’s updated Summary of Economic Projections (SEP), where policymakers penciled in […]
Schwab: 2023 Mid-Year Market Outlook Audio
The positives—and the risks—as we head into the second half of the year. Most of the things we expected to happen during the first half of the year in fact did: Inflation eased, U.S. economic growth slowed, the Federal […]
Weekly Market Recap Week Ended June 23
U.K. tightening As the United States and some other major economies assess whether to slow down or pause their inflation-fighting policies, the United Kingdom’s central bank went in a different direction, lifting its key benchmark interest rate by half of a percentage point. Thursday’s steep increase raised the rate from 4.5% to 5.0%, the […]
Nuveen: The Fed Delivers A “Hawkish Hold”
The U.S. Federal Reserve kept rates steady at today’s policy meeting, as expected. But the committee’s updated economic projections signaled risks of another hike as soon as July. What happened? The U.S. Federal Reserve maintained the target range for the policy at 5.00% – 5.25% today, as expected, but revised upward its forecast for […]
Franklin Templeton: Don’t Let Drama Over Next Few Fed Meetings Distract From The Big Picture
At the June 14 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting the Federal Reserve (Fed) left rates unchanged, but kept alive the possibility of raising rates again at upcoming meetings. Arguably, the committee even leaned into the prospect of higher rates, as a majority of officials now forecast at least two more rate rises in […]
John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended June 16
Holding tight—for now U.S. Federal Reserve officials signaled that they could lift interest rates again at their next meeting July 25–26 if the economy and inflation don’t cool further. The Fed on Wednesday kept its benchmark rate unchanged—breaking a string of 10 consecutive meetings in which it has lifted rates—and projections showed that 12 […]
John Hancock: Known Unknowns
We’re in an environment ripe with significant uncertainties that reduce visibility and make it difficult to have high conviction. Banking fragilities continue and the debt ceiling drama will be harmful to growth, no matter how it resolves. Meanwhile, we’re keeping an eye on European equities, which we think are losing their shine. Why the debt […]
LPL: Stock Market Implications If Recession Arrives In 2023
We had hoped to write a blog about the “official” start of a new bull market today, but no such luck. The S&P 500 Index closed at 4,283 on Tuesday (and is trading around that level at noon ET Wednesday), falling just 0.25% short of a close at least 20% above the October 12, […]
John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended June 9
Low volatility An index that measures investors’ expectations of short-term U.S. stock market volatility has dropped to the lowest level since January 2020 after falling 31% from a recent high on May 24. The Cboe Volatility Index sank on Friday to 13.8, just above its level before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
Capital Group: Mild Recession, Strong Recovery
The global economy has managed to avoid a recession in recent months, thanks to resilient consumers, a surge in travel and leisure activities, and the reopening of China’s economy following pandemic-related lockdowns. That’s likely to change in the second half of the year, says Capital Group economist Jared Franz, as the impact of high […]