{"id":22402,"date":"2013-12-04T19:57:10","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T00:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=22402"},"modified":"2017-06-21T12:54:54","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T16:54:54","slug":"weekly-market-wrap-up-november-18-22-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2013\/12\/weekly-market-wrap-up-november-18-22-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Market Wrap Up, November 18-22, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weekly Information Center<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\nMarket Insight<\/strong><\/p>\n

Federal Reserve officials began discussion on ways to exit or slow down the asset purchase program in 2014, leading the markets to gain short-term ground following the release of the FOMC meeting minutes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Despite the potential scale back of the quantitative easing program, the Federal Reserve emphasized that it will maintain short-term interests near zero and not \u201ctaper\u201d until unemployment levels reach 6.5% and inflation 1.5%. However, consumer prices index reported a decrease of -.1% to 1% year-over-year. With the unemployment level at 7.3% and inflation stagnant at 1%, \u201ctapering\u201d of the bond-buying program may not begin until mid to late 2014. As a result, it is imperative for investors to be well-positioned for an eventual hike in long-term rates. Although economic reports were not as robust as expected, 95.4% of S&P 500 companies having disclosed earnings for the season reported an increase in operating earnings of 12.2% year-over-year indicating another consecutive record level for the S&P 500. In turn, the low inflation and interest rates make stocks, particularly large-cap and growth stocks, appear cheap in relative terms.<\/p>\n


\nWeekly Review<\/strong><\/p>\n