Month: July 2021

A disappointing earnings report from Amazon weighed down major indexes, but inflation data came in less than expected, helping give the market a boost in the morning.

GDP growth was less than expected this morning while employment data confirmed the Fed’s message that there is still more work to do in the economic recovery. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for equities, as it means economic support will continue for some time.

Investors survived another Fed meeting with stocks gaining after the Fed left monetary policy untouched but confirmed the economy is still on track and inflation appears transitory. Small caps and growth stocks soared while only a few of the SPDR sectors registered gains.

Earnings reports releasing this week have been very positive, but investors are already looking beyond the reports to expectations for the second half of the year. With mounting fears around the new Delta variant of COVID and potential changes in monetary policy by the Fed, the major indexes retreated today.

Small caps had a volatile start to the week, gaining on Monday morning and losing those gains by mid-day. Still, the gains were enough for all the major indices to advance today as investors look forward to a massive earnings week.

A rally in Social media stocks helped send the major indexes to new all-time highs. The optimism spread to other big tech stocks, giving the Nasdaq a high volume advance but leaving the advance/decline ratio below 1.0.

Rising jobless claims surprised the market this morning, sending cyclical sectors lower and causing a reversal in small caps after several days of gains. Investors rotated back into growth stocks and big tech, which are more resilient to the swings in the economy.

Stocks continued to rebound from last week’s dip, with small caps leading the march upward, keeping the advance/decline ratio above 2.0 for a second day. Investors are looking more optimistic about the economic recovery among solid earnings reports from market leaders.