After starting the week in a hole, domestic equity indexes have been working hard to reclaim lost ground over the past two days. Euro zone woes continue to weigh down on the markets although recent lending measures by the ECB ought to help ease investor worries. Wall Street was fairly quiet as equities drifted sideways with a downward bias before the U.S. GDP release tomorrow, showcasing the high levels of uncertainty still plaguing the market. Investors will look to end the week on a positive note before the extended holiday weekend, with many hoping for a classic Santa Claus rally amidst the gloomy economic landscape. [click to continue…]
Euphoria was quick to evaporate from the markets last week as investors fretted over ongoing uncertainty in the Euro zone. Selling pressures prevailed across equity markets as lawmakers have yet to outline a comprehensive plan of action for restoring stability to the debt burdened currency bloc. Gold futures tanked as investors took profits in the [...]
Resurfacing Italian debt woes paved the way for persistent volatility in the markets last week, further deteriorating the economic outlook of the financially fragile currency bloc. Selling pressures overwhelmed the bulls on Wall Street, despite a host of better-than-expected economic data releases on the home front, including surprisingly strong retail sales, new home starts, industrial [...]
After another up-down week dominated by Euro zone debt drama, domestic equity indexes managed to clinch a gain amidst the volatility. Investor sentiment swayed wildly as the anticipation of Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi’s resignation coupled with ongoing Italian debt woes sparked sell-offs one day and rallies the next, across virtually every corner of the global [...]
The ETF industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the last five years and innovation across products has brought forth a multitude of previously inaccessible investment strategies to mainstream investors. Aside from the vast expansion in the exchange-traded product universe, the last five years have been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. Global [...]
Equity markets struggled to pick a direction last week, fluctuating between small gains and pesky losses one day after the other. Late in the week, however, worse than expected economic data on the home front and escalating European debt woes managed to push the markets of a cliff one more time, with equity indexes sinking [...]
Wall Street regained some lost ground last week as investors appeared less fearful to jump back into the equity markets. Corporate earnings were mostly upbeat, although several big financial institutions missed estimates while Apple and Google both blew past analyst predictions. Emerging market equity indexes also ended the week in green territory. Gold took a [...]
Close to three years after the bottom fell out of the housing market, home prices still remain weak and are even declining once again in many major markets. Recently, the 10 city Case-Shiller Index showed that home prices have fallen back into dreaded double dip territory, suggesting that further declines could be in the cards. [...]
The month of May was a generally disappointing stretch for investors, as both international and domestic equity markets struggled to overcome obstacles new and old. Commodities, which had been a nice source of absolute returns for much of the last year, fell on hard times as well; precious metals went into a brief freefall, and [...]
Weekly Recap Last week proved to be quite bumpy for investors, as asset classes from stocks to commodities–and everything in between–swayed between gains and losses for the last several trading days on Wall Street. Volatility was abundant across all markets and domestic equity indexes ended the week relatively flat, much like crude oil and silver [...]
Global financial markets experienced significant volatility last week as the tragic earthquake and devastating tsunami that struck Japan continue to ripple throughout the global economy. The G-7 intervened in the foreign exchange markets last Friday in a truly historic fashion, selling Japanese yen to help contribute to the formation of a stable exchange rate following [...]
