Here Comes August, Buckle Up We wish we knew why, but August is a month that tends to have a lot of out-of-the-blue scary events pop up along with a good deal of market volatility. Well, just one trading day into August and the pattern continues. A weak jobs report piled on some negative ta …
The S&P 500 wrapped up a surprising year with another strong week. The index of large-cap stocks, including dividends, climbed 1.5% and finished 18.4% higher for the year. Figure 1 shows the performance of the S&P 500, ex-dividends, in 2020 and just how far stocks have roared back f …
The new stimulus package approved by the House and Senate was signed by President Trump Sunday night. The president had proposed upping the aid to individuals to $2,000 after the bipartisan agreement had been reached. Garnering support for that proposal would likely have proven difficult an …
Congress passed the new $900 billion economic relief and spending bill on Monday. While most of the focus has been on a second round of relief payments to most Americans, there is plenty more in the 5,000-plus pages of the stimulus package.
Retirement is far off until it isn’t. This chapter of life can sneak up on just about anyone, and we do ourselves a favor to be as prepared as we can. Like anything involving the government, finances can be confusing, with different tax treatments, contribution limits, beneficiary rules and more.
The economic slowdown continues. Initial jobless claims climbed 885,000 last week. In the face of additional restrictions and heightened health risks, consumers have scaled back activity. Retail and food service sales dipped 1.1% last month (Figure 1).
Initial jobless claims reached an 11-week high based on data reported last week. More than 850,000 workers filed initial unemployment claims (Figure 1). While processing delays around the Thanksgiving holiday affected the data, even after adjusting for the break it appears the economic lull …
