Key News: After Alibaba’s shares leaped 38 percent on their first day of trading on Friday A decrease in investor purchases prompted an unexpected decline in sales of U.S. existing homes in August, indicating the housing rebound is not yet self-sustaining. Financial markets in Britain and around Europe generally welcomed Scottish voters’ rejection of independence […]
Market Overview: US fundamental economic data should start to look a bit sunnier as a dreary winter fades away. The upcoming week will focus on March spending, retail sales, housing, and a first look into April regional manufacturing output. Inflation will probably remain low and well below the target of 2 percent as total costs […]
Market Overview: The NASDAQ Biotech Index and major exchange-traded funds that track biotech firms have suffered most in the last month. Shares for the IBB ETF (Biotechnology Index) have fallen 16% at the news from President Obama to reduce prices for Pharmaceuticals and Biotech companies. The pricing strategies came into question from the House Energy […]
Market Overview: The Fed announced that all but one bank passed the Federal Reserve’s stress tests. The Federal Reserve said that 29 out of the 30 big banks would have enough capital on hand to endure a major economic downturn. Zions Bancorp was the only bank that failed to meet the 5% top-tier capital threshold. […]
Market Insight: Last week, Janet Yellen announced that the Fed is planning to lower short term interest rates by next spring. Although the stock market was moved by the announcement, Yellen stated that the decision to raise interest rates is dependent on the situation of the economy. Currently the unemployment rate is at 6.5% and […]
Market Insight: The US quickly condemned Crimea’s overwhelming vote to join Russia. President Obama stated, “Crimea’s vote was made under duress of Russian military intervention, and no diplomatic solution was possible amid large scale Russian military exercises” First round of sanctions could come as early as today and EU leaders will meet to discuss the […]
Market Insight: Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said bad weather might explain the patch of soft economic data making headlines during the past few weeks. The Fed’s uncertainty on the matter will likely puts its policy plans on cruise control for now, meaning continued reductions in monthly bond purchases unless the weak data persist and […]
Last week, Facebook announced the acquisition of mobile messenger service WhatsApp for $19 Billion. WhatsApp will remain largely independent from the social network. The acquisition positions the company for even stronger growth on mobile phones, where advertising now makes up the majority of its revenue. Stocks jumped Monday, climbing to an all-time high as optimism […]
Last Monday, stocks closed higher as investors watch Yellen’s appearance before Congress for signs of the Fed’s $85 billion bond buying program. Despite the rally, stock indexes are still negative for 2014. Job data showed that the US Economy added 113,000 jobs in January and unemployment dipped to 6.6%, the lowest rate since the 2008 […]
Monday’s Supply Management’s index disappointed investors as it showed that during the month of January, the expansion was much slower than expected; the lowest since May 2012. Following the volatility of the markets during January and the stock market being 2% away from a correction or 10% or more decrease in stocks, it brings forth […]
