Weekly Commentary 2/7

Ballestas Group

Jul 11 min read

Mixed Economic Signals: Fed's Inflation Gauge Eases, GDP and Consumer Confidence Revised Down, Housing Market Falters

The core personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE), the Federal Reserve's preferred measure, rose just 0.1% from the previous...

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Ballestas Group

Jun 241 min read

Deficit Soars, Inflation Persists, Markets React: Key Economic Shifts Unveiled

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) substantially revised upward its estimate of the U.S. budget deficit for 2024, raising it to $1.9...

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Ballestas Group

Jun 171 min read

Fed Holds Rates Steady Amid Cooling Inflation: Market Awaits Revised Projections

Shortly before the Federal Open Market Committee met on Wednesday to set interest rates, data were released showing that U.S. consumer...

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Ballestas Group

Jun 101 min read

Jobs Surprise Upward Boost: Strong Data Redraws Fed Expectations and Challenges Soft Landing

Friday's employment report showed an increase of 272,000 jobs in May, well above the consensus forecast of a 180,000 increase and...

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Ballestas Group

Jun 31 min read

Market Relief: Inflation Under Control and Cooling Consumer Spending Boosts Treasury Bonds

A sense of relief swept through the markets following the release of the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, the core...

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Ballestas Group

May 281 min read

Earnings Season Wrap-Up: S&P 500 Shines with Surprising Growth, NVIDIA Leads the Charge with Record-Breaking Results

The corporate earnings season is coming to an end with 96% of the companies in the S&P 500 index having already reported their results,...

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Ballestas Group

May 201 min read

Wall Street Records: Dow Jones Breaks 40,000 as Inflation Decelerates and Rate Cut Probabilities Rise

The S&P 500 index, Nasdaq and Dow Jones reached record levels this week. The Dow surpassed the 40,000 level for the first time. Consumer...

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Ballestas Group

May 131 min read

Rate Cuts on the Horizon: New York Fed President Optimistic as Jobless Claims Rise

On Monday, New York Fed President and FOMC Vice Chair John Williams, one of the most influential committee members, said that...

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Ballestas Group

May 61 min read

Powell Surprises Markets: Rate Cuts on the Horizon?

The Federal Open Market Committee met on Wednesday, and markets were expecting a more conservative approach due to inflation concerns....

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Ballestas Group

Apr 291 min read

Rising Expectations: Treasury Yields and Inflation in Focus

Yields on 10-year Treasuries hit a high of 4.735% after the underlying personal consumption expenditures price index rose 3.7% in the...

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Ballestas Group

Apr 231 min read

Housing Market Crash and Rising Tariffs: Economic Impact on U.S. and China

Existing home sales in the U.S. fell 4.3% month-over-month in March as mortgage rates rose to 7.1%. Also, new residential construction...

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Ballestas Group

Apr 151 min read

Expectations Review: Fewer Rate Cuts on the Horizon?

After three higher-than-expected CPI indices, investors recalibrated their expectations for rate cuts, projecting fewer reductions....

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Ballestas Group

Mar 281 min read

On the Road to Success: Investor Expectations in the Face of Federal Comments and Solid Economic Growth

Investors await comments from the Federal Reserve and key economic data such as Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) in this...

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Ballestas Group

Mar 251 min read

Fed adopts cautious stance: no change in rates, but anticipates balance sheet cuts and adjustments

The Federal Reserve held the federal funds rate in the 5.25% to 5.50% range at this week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting, but...

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Ballestas Group

Mar 181 min read

Rising Inflation Sparks Uncertainty over June Fed Rate Cuts

The CPI report showed that the super core measure (basic services excluding housing) increased by 0.47%, too high, although an...

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Ballestas Group

Mar 111 min read

Economic Trends: Jerome Powell contemplates rate cuts as Fed assesses inflation.

This week Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, gave his semi-annual testimony in front of U.S. lawmakers. In it, Powell said...

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rballestas

Mar 41 min read

Strong Momentum! U.S. GDP Update Reveals Encouraging Trends for First Quarter 2024

The week saw the release of revised U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data which came in at 3.2%, down 0.1% from a month ago. However,...

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Ballestas Group

Feb 261 min read

Nvidia Boosts Markets: Shares Reach Record Highs After Surprising AI Earnings

Shares of Nvidia, the well-known graphics card maker, experienced a notable rise after significantly beating already high earnings...

2 views0 comments

Ballestas Group

Feb 201 min read

January Inflation Surges: Core Services Spark Concern Amidst Slowing Deceleration

Consumer prices rose 0.3% more than expected month-on-month in January, compared to 0.2% in December, slowing the pace of deceleration....

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boltonglobal

Feb 121 min read

Rate Times: Powell suggests caution as market expects cuts

Jerome Powell suggested in an interview that the Fed will take a more cautious stance on rate cuts, possibly waiting until after March to...

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