Your Weekly Summary – July 23, 2018

Market Not Quite Up 3 Weeks in a Row

 

Three out of the 4 major US Stock Indexes were in the positive last week, with the S&P500 up .03%, the Dow up .18%, the Russell 2000 up .58%. The Nasdaq retreated a slight .07%.

 

Barclays Aggregate Bond Index fell .27%, as rates ended the week slightly higher. Year-To-Date, the Index is down 1.47%.

 

We certainly did hear from our President, as he believes the Federal Reserve should not raise interest rates further this year. In addition, he hinted he prefers the value of the US dollar to be lower compared to other country currencies. Lastly he suggested he would “slap” tariffs on $500 billion in Chinese goods. Our market is proving to be very resilient, for now!!!

 

Interest Rates

 

The 10 Year US Treasury Yield finished the week higher, closing last week @ 2.89%, up from 2.83% the week prior. Will the deluge of Corporate Earnings and Guidance move rates higher this week? I’ll be looking forward to see where rates settle on Friday!

 

Tidbits

 

  • As discussed in a previous blog, Anthony Kennedy, the longest serving current Supreme Court Justice is retiring on July 31, 2018. His 30 ½ years of service ranks him the 14th longest serving Justice. As of August 30, 2018, 4 out of the 9 current Justices will have served at least 24 years.

 

  • Oil: In the week ending July 13, 2018, 11.0 million barrels of crude oil per day were produced by US oil companies. We exported 1.5 million barrels per day. We also imported 9.1 million barrels per day, with 40% coming from Canada. Interesting!!!

 

The Week Ahead

 

Approximately 1/3 of the S&P 500 companies report earnings this week, including Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet. The big economic report for the week will be on Friday, as we hear the first reading of US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the 2nd Quarter of 2018. Many people are expected a reading over 4%. How will these reports move the equity and bond markets? I wish my crystal ball was working?

 

Question of the Week?

 

Which Country is the largest “Importer of Goods” in US dollars?

 

a) Germany

b) Japan

c) China

d) United States

Answer to Last Week’s Question of the Week!

 

The Question was: “Which Player hit the most home runs in the decade of 1980’s?”

 

a) Jim Rice

b) Reggie Jackson

c) Mike Schmidt

d) Jim Rice

e) Eddie Murray

 

The answer is:  c) Mike Schmidt with 313 Home Runs!!!

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