On Wednesday, July 6th, the Federal Reserve (Fed) released the minutes from its June meeting. While they highlight the Fed’s concern over inflation, particularly that inflation may become “entrenched”, it did not hold any surprises. Markets celebrated and all posted gains for the day.
Gains continued on July 7th. New jobless claims were 235,000, which was 4,000 more than the prior week. The four-week moving average was 232,500 – an increase of 750 from the previous period.1 This demonstrates the labor market remains very strong.
Last Friday, July 15th, was another good day for the markets. Initial retail sales data was better than expected – suggesting that a recession is not imminent.
Earnings reports will continue this week with some major companies including Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Netflix and Tesla scheduled to release their figures. Naturally markets will try to determine future trends based on these numbers.
Wrapping up returns for the first half of the month, as of July 15th the major markets all posted some welcome positive returns. The Dow grew by 513 points (1.67%), the S&P 500 gained 78 points (2.05%) and the NASDAQ increased 424 points (3.84%).
1 www.usnews.com, “Jobless Claims Edge Up Slightly to 235,000”. July 7, 2022