Weekly Market Commentary – Battle Creek

US Stocks squeaked out small gains this week as did oil.  Foreign stocks fell.  The dollar was mostly unchanged.  Gold prices fell modestly and the 10-year Treasury rate declined modestly. In the numbers this week: The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose 0.7% in November from October to 5.61MM annual sales […]

Weekly Market Commentary – Battle Creek

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the week slightly lower this past week.  Concerns over China seizing a U.S. submersible research vehicle weighed on the markets Friday.  The Federal Reserve raised short term interest rates 0.25% which was widely expected.  Expectations for three more hikes next year were slightly more than expectations.  However, the […]

Weekly Market Commentary – Battle Creek

Stocks continued to rally this week on optimism for future economic growth.  Treasury rates continued to climb as did the U.S. dollar.  Oil finished slightly lower and gold prices continued to drop based on higher interest rates and a stronger dollar.  The Euro currency dropped the most against the dollar after the European Central bank […]

The big news of the week was the agreement by OPEC to reduce oil production by 1.2MM barrels per day.  Non-OPEC producers are expected to cut production by another 600,000 barrels per day with Russia agreeing to 300,000 barrels per day in cuts.  This bodes well for U.S. oil producers who’ve been bleeding red ink […]

Weekly Market Commentary – Battle Creek

U.S. Stocks continued to climb this week on generally good economic data.  Foreign stocks were down, and the U.S. dollar and treasury interest rates rose while bond prices fell.  Oil and precious metals were lower while natural gas and industrial metals such as copper and aluminum were higher. In the numbers this week: Japan’s gross […]