Every Friday I recap “news you can use” from the week: a handful of quotes from major (and often expensive) news sources, so you can stay up to date on the news that affects your money without spending a dime and in less than a minute.
Here’s an overview of what happened this week.
Oil prices rise after Saudi Arabia pledges more voluntary production cuts (June 4, CNBC)
International benchmark Brent crude futures traded at $77.46 a barrel at around midday London time, up 1.8%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures stood at $73.11, over 1.9% higher.
Oil prices rose following OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut production by another million barrels per day.
U.S. stock futures show S&P 500 consolidating at 2023 highs (June 5, MarketWatch) The S&P 500 on Monday was looking to consolidate at its best level since last August, having rallied in recent sessions on the removal of U.S. debt default fears and hopes that the labor market shows an economy that can avoid a sharp slowdown in the face of the Federal Reserve’s inflation battle.
This Rally Is All About a Few Star Stocks—And Some Investors Are Worried (June 6, Wall Street Journal) Eight of the largest tech and growth companies in the U.S.—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, Tesla and Nvidia—now account for 30% of the S&P 500’s market capitalization. That is up from about 22% at the start of the year.
… a market is generally considered healthier when more stocks are rising together.
Treasury Secretary Yellen warns of commercial real estate ‘issues’ that could strain banks (June 7, MarketWatch) Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in her first interview since the U.S. debt-ceiling was lifted last week by Congress, warned on Wednesday about the potential for banks to feel strain from their exposure to weakening commercial real estate valuations.
Researchers at the NYU Stern School of Business and Columbia Business School recently estimated there has been a $506.3 billion decline in office values from 2019 to 2022 nationally in the wake of the pandemic which could feed a “doom loop” in some big cities.
Payrolls, Prices, Productivity and Profits Hold the Answer to the Puzzling US Economy (June 8, Bloomberg) To make sense of it all, it helps to focus on the four p’s: payrolls, productivity, profits and prices. Their interaction helps describe where the economy is—and where it may be headed. The message in the data: Barring a credit crunch from the recent banking industry turmoil, the US may well dodge a recession. Yet it could end up in an unsatisfactory equilibrium between anemic growth and still-elevated inflation.
Euro zone enters recession after Germany, Ireland growth revision (June 8, CNBC) The euro zone entered a recession in the first quarter of this year, and economists are not optimistic for the coming months.
The 20-member bloc reported a gross domestic product of -0.1% in the first quarter, according to revised estimates from the region’s statistics office Eurostat released Thursday.
‘Slowbalization’ is Name of the Game on Bloomberg Trade Tracker (June 8, Bloomberg) The global trade downturn has likely made it past its worst, but don’t bet on a swift turnaround.
Five of the 10 indicators on the Bloomberg Trade Tracker remained in below-normal range in the middle of May as shipping and export volumes weakened in major ports around the world. It’s a slight improvement from the month prior, when six data points were in the red.
Consumers are keeping the U.S. out of a recession. It’s getting harder (June 8, CNBC) The yield curve remains deeply inverted, and manufacturing surveys have been flashing recession signals for months. But layoffs concentrated in the tech sector have not spread widely so far, and there are pockets of consumer strength, such as travel, that look like a downright boom.
Behold Wall Street’s new bull market, maybe (June 9, Reuters) S&P 500 advanced on Thursday, putting the benchmark index up 20% from its Oct. 12 closing low and heralding the start of a new bull market, at least by the definition of some market participants.
The Nasdaq added 1%, and it is now up nearly 30% from its closing low last December.
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I founded Money Talks News in 1991. I’m a CPA, and I have also earned licenses in stocks, commodities, options principal, mutual funds, life insurance, securities supervisor and real estate.
