Stocks got off to a nice start in 2020, until the late January selloff due to the coronavirus outbreak fears. In the end, the S&P 500 Index fell only 0.2% for the month, but it did mark the end to a 4-month win streak. Should bulls worry about what a down January might mean for the rest of 2020? Continue reading →

Daily Insights

Stocks add to gains this morning after China cuts tariffs. The S&P 500 Index is poised for its best week since June 2019 after opening about 0.3% higher this morning. The news that appears to be helping most this morning is that China cut tariffs by 50% on $75 billion in U.S. goods. Those tariffs had been implemented in September 2019 in response to U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods put in place at that time. Continue reading →

Market Blog

Monday’s strong manufacturing report caught our attention, even as the coronavirus outbreak dominated the financial media. At 50.9, the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for January moved into expansionary territory (above 50) for the first time since July 2019. Continue reading →

Stocks open solidly higher on vaccine optimism. Stocks are adding to Tuesday’s rally on reports of a possible breakthrough in development of a coronavirus vaccine by United Kingdom and Chinese scientists that may substantially reduce the development time. The prior session saw the biggest one-day gain in the S&P 500 Index since August 2019. Continue reading →

Economic Blog

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield moved to within .05% of its recent low on Friday, January 31, approaching the 1.47% mark set back in August 2019. Prospects of stabilizing global growth and progress on trade encouraged yields to start pressing higher over the last four months of 2019; however, fears of the potential economic damage from efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus steered investors back to the relative safety of Treasuries. Continue reading →

LPL Research on CNBC. LPL Financial Senior Market Strategist Ryan Detrick was on CNBC’s Squawk Box yesterday with Becky Quick. You can watch the full interview here. Continue reading →

Daily Insights

Stocks rebound as outbreak fears linger. U.S. stocks are solidly higher this morning after the first back-to-back weekly losses since August 2019. Containment efforts are ongoing as coronavirus cases in China continue to increase, though markets may be taking some comfort in the limited impact outside of mainland China. Continue reading →

As the clock strikes 11 p.m. in London (midnight in Brussels) on January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom (U.K.) will end its 47-year membership in the European Union (E.U.) when the U.K.’s withdrawal from the E.U., known as Brexit, becomes official. Continue reading →

Daily Insights

Levels of support. The S&P 500 Index is less than 2% off its all-time closing record following Thursday’s reversal, though you wouldn’t know it from the headlines. Nevertheless, there has been deterioration in global indicators such as copper prices and U.S. Treasury yields, and the chance for a pullback is always a risk in markets. Continue reading →

MARKET BLOG

The Super Bowl Indicator suggests stocks rise for the full year when the Super Bowl winner has come from the original National Football League (now the NFC), but when an original American Football League (now the AFC) team has won, stocks have fallen. We would be the first to admit that this indicator has no connection to the stock market, but “data don’t lie”: The S&P 500 Index has performed better, and posted positive gains with greater frequency, over the past 53 Super Bowl games when NFC teams have won. Continue reading →