Looking Inside the Mid-Year 2020 Markets

By Tom Burnett CFA Stock market investors know they have been on a rollercoaster ride this year. After making record high levels in February, the Covid-19 virus outbreak and countermeasures led to a sharp sell off in March, leaving the major Indexes down for the year. As the nation’s mood changed to…

By Tom Burnett CFA On June 10, 2020, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee voted unanimously to hold interest rate fed funds to a range of 0-0.25%. The Fed expects these low target rates to apply through 2022 as the U.S. economy recovers from the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the…

By Tom Burnett CFA On June 10, 2020, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris issued its economic forecasts, updated to reflect the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on global growth. The forecasts assume two different paths—single outbreak and a possible recurrence or “double”…

By Tom Burnett CFA We track and closely monitor the weekly FACTSET earnings estimates for the S/P 500 Index companies. After falling sharply since early March, the consensus estimates have begun to flatten out. For example, the report for June 5, 2020, gives an estimate of $127.86 for the year 2020.…

By Tom Burnett CFA On June 5, 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the employment conditions for May. In a surprising development, employment actually rose by 2.5 million from the prior month. The unemployment rate declined from 14.7% in April to 13.3% in May. The March and April figures were…