It’s been a tough week. The number of coronavirus cases have continued to increase globally, and new cases have been confirmed in the United States. Countries are making progress with containment, but those efforts also have resulted in a reduction in economic...
Stocks just suffered their worst week since the global financial crisis on coronavirus outbreak fears. Last week’s 11.5% drop in the S&P 500 Index brought the index into correction territory. We provide context for the sell‐off and discuss potential U.S. and...
Monday was a tough day in the stock market, with the S&P 500 Index down more than 3% as the number of coronavirus cases reported outside of China jumped. Monday’s losses reversed all of this year’s gains so far for the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones...
Corporate America impressed us this earnings season. Though S&P 500 Index companies have generated only 1–2% earnings growth compared with the year-ago quarter, we consider this an excellent result given the challenges companies faced in late 2019. The challenges...
Productivity is a key ingredient in keeping this aging economic cycle afloat, and a nice bounce in 2019’s fourth quarter productivity may be a step in the right direction. Ideally, we’d like to see the global economy stabilize and capital expenditures (capex) pick up...
Data reported in January and early February reflected continued, moderate growth in the U.S. economy. U.S. manufacturing data improved from weak levels, defense drove durable goods order growth, and underlying data on the U.S. consumer and job growth was solid. The...
