The Weekly Market Snapshot from Frazier Allen
July 28, 2010
Market Commentary by Scott J. Brown, Ph.D., Chief Economist
- Scott J. Brown Ph.D., Chief Economist Raymond James Investment Services
In addition to the mostly positive corporate earnings reports this week, the focus fell on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s monetary policy testimony – before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday and in front of the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday. While he didn’t offer anything new in support of the economy, he assured the legislators the Fed remains “prepared to take further policy actions as needed.”
In prepared remarks, Bernanke said the economy is “proceeding at a moderate pace.” On the positive side, he noted that business and household demand is rising, but that housing and commercial construction are weak – and that continuing job market weakness is holding back consumer demand. It will require “a significant amount of time” to recoup the 8.5 million jobs lost in 2008 and 2009, he said, citing the latest Fed projections that show reducing unemployment “is now expected to be somewhat slower than we previously projected.” Unemployment may stand between 7% and 7.5% at the end of 2012, he said.
The Weekly Market Snapshot from Frazier Allen
June 12, 2010
Market Commentary by Scott J. Brown, Ph.D., Chief Economist for Raymond James Investment Services
Scott J. Brown Ph.D., Chief Economist Raymond James Investment Services
The economic data were generally soft, consistent with a lackluster-to-moderate pace of economic growth. The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book noted that “economic activity continued to improve since the last report,” although most Fed districts described the pace of growth as “modest.” Retail sales were much weaker than anticipated, falling by 1.2% in May, down 1.1% excluding autos. Weakness was concentrated in building materials, which could reflect the acceleration in March and April (due to the pending expiration of the homebuyer tax credit). Ex-autos, building materials and gasoline, sales edged up 0.1% following a 0.2% decline in April.
The stock market mood remained negative, with plenty of intraday volatility. However, Chinese export data suggested that the European debt crisis has not had a major impact on foreign trade. Global equity markets improved on that news and short-covering may have exaggerated the impact in the United States. The disappointing retail sales figures dampened the mood again on Friday. [Read more]
