The U.S. government is in Day 27 of a partial government shutdown, now the longest in history.

Past shutdowns have largely been a nonevent for the U.S. economy and stocks. Business and consumer confidence indicators usually decline and government spending drops during a shutdown, but any losses have typically been recouped quickly. As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, U.S. stocks have also historically fared well after shutdowns, showing that any economic impact wasn’t enough to derail market rallies.

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Yesterday’s U.K. Parliament vote was another bump in the road for Brexit.

As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, the British pound and the euro have steadily declined over the past few months, weighed down in large part by pessimism around British Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed plan for a European Union (EU) exit (or Brexit) Continue reading →

Credit stress among banks has remained relatively calm recently, signaling an economic recession may not be as imminent as some investors fear.

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Fourth quarter earnings reporting season begins this week with about three dozen S&P 500 companies set to report results. The action kicked off this morning with Citigroup’s numbers, which will be followed by several other major banks later in the week, as well as a smattering of results from some consumer and industrial companies. So what does corporate America have in store for us?

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The S&P 500 Index is off to its best start in years, but this is on the heels of the worst year for stocks since 2008. The trifecta of crashing oil prices, confusion from the Federal Reserve (Fed), and trade issues with China all pushed equities lower by 14% during the usually bullish fourth quarter last year, and in the process made December the worst month of the year for the first time, according to data going back to 1950.

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