Weekly Market Review - March 27, 2018

Chad Hassinger |
Categories
Finance

By Bradley J. Rathe
Chief Investment Officer

March 27, 2018

"Life would be tragic if it weren't funny." Stephen Hawking

Weekly look back:
  1. Stocks fell last week on escalating tariff talks with China. The US is looking to put forth $60 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods and China is expected to retaliate against US agricultural goods.
  2. Federal Reserve, as expected, raised the Fed Funds rate by .25% to 1.625%. The market was spooked as they raised expectations for additional rate rises in 2019. Many traders are also blaming the rise of the LIBOR rate as a central cause for lower equity prices.
  3. Durable goods orders were strong at a 1.7% advance. Metals were one of the stronger groups in anticipation of the steel and aluminum tariffs put forth by the administration. 
Weekly look ahead:
  1. Confidence numbers report this week. Economic growth is substantially built on confidence in tomorrow. Consumers buy today and plan for tomorrow based upon their confidence in the future. 
  2. US GDP is expected to move up to 2.7% from 2.5% as the final reading of Q4 of 2017. Corporate profits are expected to move up by 9.8% in Q4 2017 signaling ongoing economic strength.
  3. House prices are starting to bubble up again. The average year-over-year gain for housing is now above 6%. The strongest areas are out West and the weakest were Chicago and Washington DC. Higher mortgage rates have not dented demand quite yet.   
World Macro highlights for this week: 

Tuesday: Consumer Confidence
Wednesday: GDP, Corporate Profits, Pending Home Sales
Thursday: Personal Income and Outlays, Consumer Sentiment, Chicago PMI

Graph Of The Week

Disposable Income has been on the rise the past few months which is starting to put some pressure on inflation. Spending, on the other hand, has been weak. 

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Unless otherwise expressly indicated, the opinions or views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect, and may differ from, the opinions or views of Strategic Financial Group, LLC or others within Strategic Financial Group, LLC, including its officers, managers, owners, employees or other service providers.