Economic Data and Market Highlights
Geopolitical headlines influenced markets last week as President-elect Trump named the majority of his cabinet. Tensions continued to escalate in Europe as Ukraine launched longer-range missiles into Russia, weapons that had been previously disallowed by the US and UK, only followed by Russia launching hypersonic missiles deeper into Ukraine. This escalation seemingly only impacted oil prices as equity markets discounted any threat of an expanding conflict expanding in the short term. The S&P 500 rose (1.72%) and the EAFE rose only one basis point. German stocks suffered (-0.63%) as the Schotz coalition disintegrated and Japanese equities declined (0.85%) on fears of an economic slowdown. UK stocks rose 1.50%.
US equities versus the rest of the world have reached extreme levels as presented in a recent Bank of America report.
Sentiment has also reached extreme levels.
Initial jobless claims released on Thursday were slightly ahead of estimates (213k vs 220k) on a month over month basis.
Existing home sales experienced their biggest jump since February, rising 3.39% month over month versus 2.9% estimate.
We would be remiss if we did not mention the rise in bitcoin which briefly hit $99k. President elect-Trump ran on a pro-bitcoin stance which has cause the rise of many crypto related tokens and stocks. SEC Chair, Gary Gensler, who has been anti-bitcoin during his tenure announced his resignation, which further fueled the rise. The Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin Index has risen 136.34% on a year today basis.
The Past Week’s Notable US data points (with revisions)
The Upcoming Week’s notable US data points
