Slowdown, Trade & Impeachment

Stocks failed to find much direction this week and ended the week lower with small company stocks being hit the worst.  The three drivers of market movement were: Slower growth as evidenced by personal-consumption data from the Commerce Department and data from Germany. The House of Representatives opened a formal impeachment inquiry based on a […]

Oil Production Attacked and Trade Talks Remain Uncertain

Stocks ended the week modestly lower.  Saudi Arabia had two major oil facilities attacked.  As the week progressed it became evident that the drones and cruise missiles came from Iran.  The attack removed 5% of global oil production.  Still given the global inventory levels, the missed production is unlikely to create any kind of shortage […]

Stocks Rise on Trade Compromises and Reboot of European Stimulus

Stocks rose this week as both the U.S. and China signaled some willingness to compromise on trade, ahead of a planned meeting in early October.  President Trump choose to delay tariff increases scheduled for October 1st and China exempted soybean and pork imports from tariffs.   Still the increased optimism may need a reality check as […]

The Past Week in the Markets

Despite a selloff on Monday, stocks gained for the week.   Major market moving news each day. Tuesday, stocks declined on fear of tariffs following the imposition of  tariffs on consumer goods on Sunday.  Also, U.S. Manufacturing posted contraction in August, the first month of contraction in three years. Wednesday, stocks rose on optimism following Hong […]