By Tom Burnett CFA The Options Clearing Corporation (“OCC”) has announced that March 2021 trading volume set a record for monthly trading activity. Total cleared contracts exceeded 904 million for the month, up 34.8% from the March 2020 volume. March was also the end of the highest quarterly trading…
By Tom Burnett CFA The latest (April 1, 2021) FACTSET Report on consensus earnings estimates for the S/P 500 Index companies reflects growing optimism over expectations for 2021 and 2022. The Index earnings fell 14% in 2020 to $140, as the COVID-19 outbreak depressed economic activity globally. In the…
By Tom Burnett CFA On April 6, 2021, the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) issued its annual global growth forecast report. We will summarize the conclusions in the latest report. Global GDP growth is now expected to grow by 6.0% this year, improving from the Covid-19 impact in 2020 when global…
By Tom Burnett CFA On April 2, 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a very positive report on the U.S. employment situation. The jobs number increased by 916,000 to bring employment up to 150.4 million workers. The unemployment rate declined from 6.2% in the prior month to 6.0%. Revisions to the…
By Tom Burnett CFA Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has made it clear, in many public statements, that the current Fed policy is based on accommodation. In fact, since the Fed responded to the Covid-19 outbreak in early 2020, the Federal Reserve balance sheet has grown from $4.3 trillion in total…