At First Glance, Another Solid Jobs Report The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payrolls rose a solid 206,000 in June, topping the consensus forecast offered by Bloomberg News of 190,000. However, first glances may not always leave the...

An AI Bonanza Rally mode—that’s been the theme for the major market indexes since the market bottomed out in late 2022. But it comes with a caveat, as we’ll discuss in a moment. Advancing 14.48% in 2024, including nearly 4% in the second quarter, the broad-based...

Mixed Signals Much has been made of the remarkable resilience of the American economy. Forecasters who confidently called for a recession in 2023 got it wrong. So far this year, the economy is generating new jobs, and the U.S. economy has yet to falter. Notably,...

A Steady-as-She-Goes Fed and a Tame Inflation Report As expected, the Federal Reserve announced last Wednesday that it held its key rate, the fed funds rate, unchanged at 5.25 – 5.50%. The Fed left the door open to a cut in rates later in the year if inflation makes...

Strong Jobs Report, with a Caveat The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payrolls in May rose 272,000, easily beating expectations of 190,000 per the Wall Street Journal. Over the past three years, nonfarm payrolls have usually topped expectations....

Housing Prices Hit New Record The price of a home hit a new record, according to the latest data on housing prices. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index, which measures monthly housing prices in 20 major metropolitan areas, rose 1.6% on a...