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The Last Few Days of Summer
Yes, the days are getting shorter...
kids are headed back to school...
stores have fully stocked their Halloween
candy... and pre-season football is already here.
It feels like the summer season has flown by,
but we still have a few days left before Labor Day arrives to mark its unofficial end.
So before you begin consuming
pumpkin-spice anything,
head outside and make the
most
of these last few days of summer!
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After declines the week prior, the large-cap S&P 500 index advanced 0.6% last week amid solid consumer spending data. Strong retail sales were driven by healthy spending at clothing stores, restaurants and bars, as well as online shopping. However, the prospects for global economic growth did weigh on sentiment last week as investors worried about slowing growth in China and whether the decline in the Turkish Lira would spark a wider sell-off in Emerging Markets.
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> Retail Sales:
Topping most estimates, retail sales grew 0.5% in July and should provide a lift to third quarter GDP. Demand for automobiles cooled, but discretionary categories like restaurants and apparel were each up 1.3% and e-commerce sales rose 0.8%, likely helped by Amazon's "Prime Day" promotion.
> The US Dollar:
Since April 17, the dollar has surged over 8%, based on the WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against the currencies of 16 key trading partners, including Mexico and China. From its low on February 16, the dollar has now risen 9.3% to the highest level since May 10, 2017.
That recent surge in the US dollar (USD) makes dollar-denominated debt across the emerging economies harder to service. In terms of the USD-denominated debt as percent of GDP, Turkey is on the forefront, followed by Argentina. These two countries have gotten hit not only by the USD appreciation but, more importantly, by the separate collapse of their own currencies.
> Happy Anniversary:
The longest bull market in history becomes official today, August 22. A bull market is seen as ending when stocks fall 20% or more from a cycle high.This is the 3,453rd day of a rally that began with despair in March of 2009 and continues on, without signs of euphoria.
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The graphic below shows
the activity taking place on various platforms such as Facebook or Google in each 60 second span.
The numbers for these services are so enormous that using a 60 second time scale is the easiest - maybe the only - way for our brains to process the massive quantities.
Here are just a few key numbers scaled to a monthly basis for comparison:
- 42,033,600,000 Facebook logins
- 159,840,000,000 Google searches
- 1,641,600,000,000 WhatsApp messages sent
- 8,078,400,000,000 emails sent
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New Market Wealth Management offers modern investment solutions backed by extensive research and experience serving the needs of wealthy families. Through our strategic partnership with
Cliffwater LLC
, we have access to institutional-quality research, investment due diligence and asset allocation tools. We believe this level of experience and unique access to in-depth, sophisticated research are essential for success in today's complex world markets.
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