Month: May 2020

Key economic indicators may be less accurate due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the International Monetary Fund.  “Accurate and timely economic data are crucial for informing policy decisions, especially during a crisis. But the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the production of many key statistics,” the fund said in a blog post this week. […]

U.S. businesses continued to be slammed by the effects of the epidemic into the middle of May, as a Federal Reserve report showed on Wednesday. Few expect a swift recovery despite some signs of hope. The sharp plunge in economic activity recounted in the U.S. central bank’s latest temperature check […]

A group of Amazon shareholders is listening to warehouse workers who have raised alarms about safety conditions at the company’s facilities during the outbreak. The shareholders, who include the managers of pension funds in New York, California and Illinois, are urging Amazon’s board of directors to release more data at the company’s annual […]

With US markets closed for Memorial Day, Asian markets rose on Monday as investor sentiment remained resilient despite growing concerns over the U.S./China relationship. At the same time, Hong Kong shares declined after political turmoil resurfaced in the area. Australia’s benchmark ASX 200 was up 1.53%, with all sectors trading higher. In Japan, […]

Investors are most focused on the economy’s reopening and any medical progress on the coronavirus, but the post-Memorial Day trading week has a full calendar of economic reports that should reveal activity during the height of the shutdowns.  Important reports include the Fed’s beige book, for a broad view of […]

U.S. stock-index futures rose in thin trade Thursday evening as investors looked ahead to the final trading session of the week before a three-day holiday weekend. The futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up nearly 104 points, or 0.4%, to 24,480, those for the S&P 500 index climbed […]

It may be time to explore contrarian plays. Wells Fargo Securities’ Christopher Harvey is telling investors the best opportunities are in the hardest-hit parts of the stock market. He believes the potential rewards outweigh the risks. “Start adding cyclicality. Start adding value. Start adding risk,” the firm’s head of equity […]

Investors should pay close attention to how the accumulation of greenbacks in money-market funds changes in the coming weeks. That’s the advice from Hans Mikkelsen, who says the immense uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic has led businesses and households to seek shelter in cash. To prepare for the possibility that […]

The United States Department of Justice has reportedly issued grand jury subpoenas to big banks seeking information on how they distributed emergency coronavirus funds that were intended to keep small businesses only. Reuters reported that the move was “part of a broader investigation into potential abuse” of the $660 billion […]

Duke professor Harvey says coronavirus vaccine will end U.S. downturn and the positive yield curve is an upbeat sign. Last summer, when the U.S. had just notched a decade of economic recovery and unemployment stood at 3.7%, Campbell Harvey, a professor of finance at the Fuqua School of Business at […]