Weekly Market Recap – April 1, 2021 In the Markets Initial jobless claims came in at 719,000 compared with 658,000 the previous week; yet, the monthly non-farm payrolls tally showed an improvement with 675,000 in March vs. 379,000 for February. The overall unemployment rate is now 6.0% vs. 6.2% a month ago. The consumer confidence

Weekly Market Recap – March 26, 2021 In the Markets Initial jobless claims fell sharply to 684,000 vs. the previous week’s 781,000. Other economic statistics, compared to their prior levels, were as follows: the consumer sentiment index was 89.1 vs. 83.0, durable goods orders for February were down 1.1% vs. January’s 3.5% rise, February core

Weekly Market Recap – March 19, 2021 In the Markets The initial jobless claims report, at 770,000, was the highest weekly number in five weeks; the count for the previous week was 725,000. February retail sales decreased 3.0%, compared with January’s 7.6% increase. Industrial production rose 1.3%, slightly weaker than the prior month’s +1.4%. Business

Weekly Market Recap – March 12, 2021 In the Markets Thursday’s initial jobless claims report came in at 712,000, compared with the previous week’s figure of 754,000. The Consumer Price Index for February was up 0.4% vs. 0.3% for January. Producer prices were up 0.5% vs. the prior month’s 1.3% increase. Wholesale inventories for January

Weekly Market Recap – March 5, 2021 In the Markets Thursday’s initial jobless claims report was 745,000, compared with 736,000 the previous week. February’s non-farm payroll figure showed an increase of 379,000 jobs that came back vs. January’s 166,000 rise. In the Commerce Department’s report on the balance of trade for January, the deficit grew

Weekly Market Recap – February 26, 2021 In the Markets President Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package was passed in the House. A panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration endorsed Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine. Initial jobless claims declined to 730,000 vs. the previous week’s 841,000 applications. Other economic statistics, compared

Weekly Market Recap – February 19, 2021 In the Markets The 821,000 initial jobless claims total was the highest in a month; there are a total of 18.3 million unemployed U.S. workers. Retail sales reported for January increased 5.3%, compared with December’s 1.4%. Industrial production rose 0.9%, a bit weaker than the prior month’s +1.3%.

Weekly Market Recap – February 12, 2021 In the Markets Thursday’s jobless claims report came in at 793,000, compared with the previous week’s revised figure of 812,000; the average expectation by Wall Street analysts was 760,000. The Consumer Price Index for January was up 0.3% vs. 0.2% for December. Wholesale inventories for December rose 0.3%;

Weekly Market Recap – February 5, 2021 In the Markets The U.S. Senate passed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill, as the nationwide toll from the disease reached 460,582 deaths, with 2,820 new deaths cited on Friday. Initial jobless claims were reported at 779,000 vs. 812,000 in the previous week’s release; Wall Street analysts had expected

Weekly Market Recap – January 29, 2021 In the Markets Initial jobless claims declined to 875,000; the report for the previous week was 914,000 first-time applications. Economic statistics, compared to their prior levels, were as follows: the consumer confidence index was 89.3 vs. 87.1, durable goods orders were 0.2% vs. 1.2%, core capital goods were