On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in conjunction with a bipartisan group of state attorneys general announced an antitrust lawsuit against technology giant Apple. The filing claims that Apple engaged in anticompetitive behavior through its control of the iPhone, resulting in harm to businesses and consumers. This suit is the latest in a series of recent bipartisan antitrust …
Economic & Market Report: The Ides of March
The middle of March was certainly a bad time of year for Julius Caesar, but what about capital markets? After all, it was almost exactly one year ago when investors were looking directly into the abyss of another potential financial crisis with the sudden unraveling of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and global banking giant Credit Suisse. Where do we …
Economic & Market Report: Looking Beneath The Surface
“Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality a thing nor its worth escape thee.” – Marcus Aurelius The gains in the U.S. stock market keep on coming. This includes the headline benchmark S&P 500, which is now up over +7% year to date with seemingly any and all dips (Tuesday this week) almost immediately being bought (Wednesday this week). …
Economic & Market Report: Shortness of Breadth
The U.S. stock market is flying once again this year. After posting an impressive +24% advance in 2023, a year when many prognosticators thought that the market would descend further into bear territory instead of skyrocketing, the S&P 500 Index is already up nearly +7% in 2024 so far. But a troubling characteristic continues to linger for the U.S. stock …
Economic & Market Report: Stress Test
The U.S. economy continues to exude resilience as we make our way through the early months of the New Year. And capital markets are increasingly reflecting this strength including the headline benchmark S&P 500 Index, which has cleared the 5000 level and is already surging toward 5100. Amid this atmosphere where everything is seemingly awesome, it is worthwhile to skim …
Economic & Market Report: Some Like It Hot
The latest jobs report for the month of January came in “hot”. The latest reading on CPI inflation to start the New Year was “hot”. While most of us are all for some unexpected heat during the frigid winter months, these hot readings on the U.S. economy have upset the thesis for many investors banking their portfolio strategies on a steady wave of interest rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve in 2024. But maybe these recently hot economic readings are signaling an outcome even better for investors in the year ahead.
Economic & Market Report: Déjà Vu?
It was nearly a year ago when global capital markets came under sudden and intense pressure. Over the course of hours in March 2023, Silicon Valley Bank evaporated into insolvency. In the subsequent days, New York based Signature Bank and Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse followed into the abyss, and global investors found themselves having Great Financial Crisis flashbacks as they spent two consecutive weekends waiting with bated breath for a government resolution to prevent another major banking contagion. So as financial headlines start to gather around New York Community Bank (NYCB), it is reasonable to wonder whether we are going to see déjà vu all over again in early 2024.
Economic & Market Report: Pain Points
The New Year is off to a rousing start for the U.S. stock market. With the recent stock bear market now definitively behind us and a new all-time high on the S&P 500 now in the books, it is reasonable to consider what are the most likely pain points that could dash the optimism for the U.S. stock market as we continue our way through 2024.
Economic & Market Report: Dissecting the Fed Rate Cut Case
Investors are all a flutter over the idea that the U.S. Federal Reserve is set to aggressively cut interest rates in 2024. It was a primary narrative behind why both the stock and bond market rallied so strongly in November and December of last year. And the debate about how many rate cuts and when ranks at the top of the list of discussion topics in the financial news media today.
Economic & Market Report: Managing Expectations
It has been a sputtering start for capital markets thus far in 2024. The performance of the headline benchmark S&P 500 has been bumpy at best in moving between marginal gains and losses so far in January.