Market Update: Wed, Apr 8, 2020 | LPL Financial Research

DAILY INSIGHTS

LPL Financial closed April 10. Please note the stock and bond markets and LPL Financial will be closed Friday, April 10. We will return to our normal business schedule Monday, April 13.

Bounce back. Stocks opened higher this morning after a big reversal Tuesday afternoon. New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, and Illinois all reported their highest daily death tolls on Tuesday, but the number of new cases and new hospital admissions in hot spots continued to decline. Continue reading

Big Annual Declines Are Rare

Market Blog

Stocks have rallied nicely off the March 23 lows on the back of a bold policy response from the Federal Reserve (Fed) and lawmakers in Washington, DC, which was followed by signs that a peak in growth of COVID-19 cases may come soon. At Wednesday’s close, the S&P 500 Index stood 19% above the March 23 closing low but down 17.7% for the year. Continue reading

Market Update: Tues, Apr 7, 2020 | LPL Financial Research

DAILY INSIGHTS

Strong rally extending into a second day. After rallying more than 7% to open the week Monday, the S&P 500 Index opened strongly again Tuesday on expectations that the COVID-19 pandemic is increasingly coming under control. Global stocks climbed overnight but trailed US gains. Uncertainty remains on how long social-distancing and quarantine measures will need to stay in place, and any good news is welcome after continued downward revisions to economic growth and earnings expectations. Continue reading

Investing With Confidence For the Long Term

Market Blog

Experiencing a major pullback in stocks is never a comfortable feeling. In times like these, we believe it can be helpful to set aside the daily headlines and keep perspective of how stocks have historically performed over the long term. After all, the majority of market participants are long-term investors, not day traders as the financial media would have its viewers believe. Continue reading

Market Update: Mon, Apr 6, 2020 | LPL Financial Research

DAILY INSIGHTS

Stocks surge on signs of COVID-19 stabilization. The S&P 500 Index opened more than 3% higher this morning, erasing all of last week’s losses on some early encouraging signs out of New York City that social distancing may have brought forward a potential peak in the growth rate of new cases. It’s only a day or two, and it’s only one city, but it is progress for the epicenter of the US outbreak. In Europe, more evidence emerged that the worst of their crisis may have passed, driving their markets sharply higher in midday trading. Continue reading

US Jobs Market Posts First Decline Since September 2010

Economic Blog

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly employment report this morning, showing the US jobs market posted its first month-over-month decline in March since September 2010. As seen in the chart below, total nonfarm payrolls fell by 701,000 during the March survey period, a sharp drop-off from what had been a sanguine trend. Continue reading

A Technical Look at Market Internals

Market Blog

Following last week’s more than 10% gain, the S&P 500 Index is tracking toward another weekly loss, its fifth of the last seven. This has many investors wondering if a retest of the lows may be in the cards for US equities. As we explored in our How Markets Bottom post, two of the bear markets we believe show the most similarities to our current one did retest or undercut the lows after the worst of the selling. Continue reading