Financial News & Insights

FINANCIAL NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK The U.S. economy continued to churn out jobs at a solid pace. Non-farm employment grew by 1.6% over 2019, marking only a slight deceleration from the 1.7% recorded in 2018. The services side of the economy also continued to fare better than its ma

FINANCIAL NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK It was a relatively light week on economic data. The merchandise trade deficit narrowed in November, suggesting some upside risk to real GDP growth in the fourth quarter. Still, activity in the manufacturing sector continues to come in on the weak

FINANCIAL NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK The House’s impeachment of President Trump did little to detract from broader economic optimism. U.S. equity markets reached new highs this week. Housing and consumer spending data released this week confirmed the narrative of resilient U.S. house

FINANCIAL NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK The U.S. and China reached a partial trade deal. The U.S. will reduce tariffs from 15% to 7.5% on $120 billion of Chinese imports and cancel the tariffs that were to be imposed on December 15th. In exchange, China will increase its imports of U.S.

FINANCIAL NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK A Trade tensions reemerged this week. President Trump suggested that the U.S.-China deal could wait until after the election, announced steel and aluminum tariffs on Brazil and Argentina, and threatened to impose tariffs on France. International t

FINANCIAL NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK A quiet, holiday-shortened week featured data that painted a picture of an economy that has slowed, but not stalled. Revisions to Q2 GDP did little to change the picture of the economy. Durable goods orders were a bright spot, but the Fed’s manufa

FINANCIAL NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK Stocks were volatile this week amid signs that U.S.-China trade talks may be stalling. Cautious optimism briefly returned on Friday on news that the Chinese president was calling for the two sides to “strengthen communication”. The housing data re

FINANCIAL NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK U.S. data this week showcased the contrasting feature of the U.S. economy: a resilient U.S. consumer but a struggling manufacturing sector. Negotiations on a phase one trade deal between the U.S. and China took a step back this week as negotiators

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK It was a relatively quiet week for economic data. The trade deficit narrowed a bit in September, but new tariffs appear to have weighed on both exports and imports. The ISM non-manufacturing index followed its manufacturing counterpart higher in October, with th

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK U.S. economic activity decelerated in the third quarter to a 1.9% annual pace from 2% in the second quarter, with consumer spending doing much of the heavy lifting. The Federal Reserve implemented its third, and likely final, interest rate cut of this year, citi