2025 Markets: Optimism Meets Reality Check Welcome to 2025! The stock market has kicked off the new year with a mix of cautious optimism and lingering concerns. The first two trading days showed glimmers of resilience, with the S&P 500 up 1% and the Nasdaq notching its best opening since...
The Lights Are On, But What Do We See? Washington is back online, and the data printers are warming up after the longest government shutdown in history. For 43 days, it felt like economists were trying to navigate a blizzard without a map, relying on patchy private reports and squinting...
The Pulse of Caution The general feeling in the markets has certainly shifted. The broad optimism that defined the rally since April seems to be evaporating, replaced by a more hesitant and selective investor stance. That "buy everything" attitude is now facing significant headwinds, and last week's sharp downturn in...
When Good News Turns Sour  Welcome to this week’s edition of The Market Pulse, where we untangle intriguing trends in the markets now. What happens when positive economic surprises trigger market turbulence instead of optimism? This week, the spotlight is on the paradoxical market reaction to stronger-than-expected US jobs data....
The Covid-19 pandemic triggered a financial and economic meltdown of epic proportions, rivaled only by the Great Depression, resulting in the fastest bear market in history.  While the energy industry is being forced to completely reinvent itself, with renewables coming out on top and diversification the new name of the game,...
A full decade since the first retail stores fell victim to the inexorable march of ecommerce and Amazon Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), the retail apocalypse shows no signs of abating. The last decade has been brutal to the American retail industry, as countless traditional malls continue to shutter at record highs....
Americans are experiencing a welcome relief at the gas pump this Thanksgiving, with gasoline prices showing a notable decline compared to earlier in the year.  This much-needed breather can be attributed to several factors, including a decrease in global crude oil prices, ample oil supplies, and reduced demand as the...
Gold had fallen out of favor for many investors since war broke out in Ukraine. Spot prices for gold ran as high as $2,066 in March 2022 before plummeting over 20% down to $1,630 in October of the same year. Many investors switched to other assets like cryptocurrencies in search of...
September is here, and with it, investors’ concerns about whether the Federal Reserve has been slow to react to shifting economic conditions. The stock market stumbled this week, adding to a sense of uncertainty as the Fed prepares for its long-anticipated interest rate cut. But has the central bank...
Data Blackout: When the Fed Loses Its Compass When the world’s most influential central bank is flying blind, investors start reaching for their own maps. With the U.S. government shutdown halting critical releases from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and CPI reports, the Federal Reserve is left making policy decisions...