Quick Takes Major U.S. stock market indices had their best week of the year despite sharp losses on Thursday. For the week, the S&P 500 was +1.6% higher, the Nasdaq rose +2.4%, the Dow gained +1.1%, and the small cap Russell 2000 advanced +1.7%. Stocks had been...
Quick Takes Inflation has been rising for months, and with this December’s CPI data, it has likely peaked at multi-decade highs for this cycle. The Fed had been late to acknowledge the duration and magnitude of the rise in inflation but has recently pivoted to a much...
Quick Takes In light holiday trading, stocks were mostly up. The exception was the Nasdaq Composite which was barely down with a -0.1% loss. The S&P 500 index finished the last week of the year with a +0.9% gain, giving the index a +26.9% return for 2021. Although...
Quick Takes Stocks began the week with sharp losses on Monday, but then rallied the final three days of the holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 gained +2.3% for the week, closing at a new all-time high – the 68th all-time high in 2021. US Home prices are at a...
Quick Takes Choppy trading continued as Omicron and Fed monetary policy stirred markets. Stocks gave up some of last week’s gains as investors weighed the impact of the Omicron variant on the economy and supply chains while processing the Fed’s new stance on...