Pass the Suntan Lotion

Was everyone on vacation last week? We certainly had lots of sun. I hope you didn’t get burned. Power outages, violent thunderstorms, hail the size of jawbreakers, a 100-degree-plus heat wave, and a move from VA to NC made it a week to remember for us! With all of those atmospheric fireworks to occupy our attention, who’s watching Mr. Stock Market? Based on the abysmal trading volume and little net price movement, apparently very few.

For the month of June, stocks recovered the losses sustained in May. The announcement of more monetary accommodation from the Fed and other central banks may help explain the move.

Monday was a non-event. Tuesday saw a bit more action. The U.S. markets operated on short trading day ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. Stocks rose 1% in Asia, 1% in Europe, and slightly less than 1% in the U.S. on hope of monetary easing by the ECB. Oil sank to $87 and change per barrel. Wednesday, world markets traded flat with the U.S. markets closed. Thursday brought more news of worldwide perverse central bank intervention. China lowered lending rates by about 0.25% while England added 50 billion pounds to its current money printing party and the ECB lowered rates 0.25%. Worldwide stocks moved little, but in the U.S. they did drop about 0.7% on light volume. Friday, Asian stocks traded about flat, but European and U.S. stocks fell more than 1% over concern of the bleak U.S. employment picture.

Most commodities and precious metals fared worse with crude oil dipping to $84.45. Despite ECB intervention, the rate for the 10-year government bond of both Spain and Italy ended the week at roughly 6%. The U.S. dollar index jumped to a closing high not seen in nearly two years, while the 10-Year U.S. Treasury Bond rate sunk to 1.54%. Overall, fear remained nearly unchanged from the previous week.

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