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Economic Beat Hub

Listen to our past weekly audio updates reviewing market news and financial insights.

How will current market developments affect you? The thought leaders at Fifth Third Bank can help make sense of it all. Listen to the Economic Beat as they discuss what happened last week and what they expect will be the focus of this week. Click the button below to listen or read the transcript to this week's Economic Beat.

Past Economic Beats

April 12, 2021

Encouraging Economic Data

Reassuring dovish comments from Federal Reserve meeting minutes, positive U.S. vaccination momentum, as well as encouraging economic data seemed to be the key drivers for the financial markets. And investors were encouraged as Federal Reserve officials provided reassurance that policy will remain supportive.

April 5, 2021

White House Releases Infrastructure Plan Details

Despite a short week for markets, the U.S. economic calendar was robust and generally upbeat. The White House also released details of its infrastructure plan worth roughly $2.25 trillion over eight years.

March

March 29, 2021

Another Volatile Week for Financial Markets

Major global equity benchmarks were mixed last week in another volatile week for financial markets, including a massive cargo ship running aground in the Suez Canal, completely blocking traffic in the waterway.

March 22, 2021

Continued Vaccine Rollout in U.S. and Europe

Last week’s COVID-19 headlines focused largely on the continued rollout of the vaccine in the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. is now administering about 2.5 million shots per day, while Europe is facing vaccine distribution issues and higher case counts.

March 15, 2021

Stimulus Bill Signed into Law

President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill was signed into law on Thursday and checks began going out over the weekend. The economic data coming in continues to paint a positive landscape, both for stocks and the overall economy.

March 8, 2021

U.S. Senate Passes American Rescue Plan

The U.S. Senate passed President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan over the weekend, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package to support the U.S. economy amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

March 1, 2021

COVID-19 Trends Improve and Fiscal Stimulus Expectations

The ongoing bear market in bonds may be driven by increasing inflation expectations amid a strong macroeconomic environment, solid corporate earnings, improving COVID-19 trends and expectations for more fiscal stimulus.

February

February 22, 2021

Stimulus Talks Continue, U.S. Stock Indices End Mostly Lower

In a shortened trading week due to the Presidents’ Day holiday, there was a lot of activity for investors to digest. Stimulus talks continued and most major U.S. stock indices ended lower.

February 8, 2021

Investors Encouraged by Potential Fiscal Stimulus

Investors were encouraged by the potential for additional fiscal stimulus and a continued decline in COVID-19 cases. Stimulus expectations ratcheted higher after the U.S. Congress cleared a major hurdle that will allow Democrats to move an economic relief package without Republican votes.

February 1, 2021

Market Movement Comes from Unlikely Source

Most major global equity benchmarks fell last week, which can somewhat be attributed to concerns that retail trading was creating havoc. The major positive themes of prospects for domestic fiscal stimulus, vaccine optimism, and strong corporate earnings weren't enough to lift the markets.

January

December

November

November 23, 2020

Vaccine Progress Offset by Worsening COVID-19 Rates

News on vaccine progress continued to be upbeat, but was offset by worsening COVID-19 infection rates and increased state and local restrictions across the country to help slow the spread.

November 16, 2020

Vaccine Announcements Boost U.S. Equities

Pfizer and BioNTech announced their COVID vaccine candidate demonstrated an efficacy rate above 90%, positively impacting U.S. equities.

November 9, 2020

Major U.S. Equity Benchmarks Rally

Major U.S. equity benchmarks rallied last week, leading the S&P 500 Index to its best weekly performance since April. Vaccine optimism, better-than-expected corporate earnings results, strong economic releases and a commitment to continued support from the Federal Reserve also helped the rally.

November 2, 2020

Election Week in the United States

It is election week in the United States, and markets are expected focus almost exclusively on the outcome of the presidential election and the races that will determine the control of the Senate.

October

September

August

August 31, 2020

Fed Shifts to More Flexible Inflation Approach

U.S. equities rose last week as investors were encouraged by COVID-19 vaccine optimism and an announcement from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on a shift to a more flexible inflation approach.

August 24, 2020

Unemployment Levels Lowest Since Early April

U.S. COVID-19 cases declined last week, vaccine development continued to progress, and economic releases were favorable—all supportive of a good outcome in equity markets last week. And unemployment claims went up unexpectedly by 135,000 for the week ending August 15th to a seasonally adjusted 1.1 million.

August 17, 2020

Stimulus Measures, Vaccine Optimism, and Positive Economic Data

Tailwind of massive stimulus measures, vaccine optimism, and positive economic data drove markets last week. And presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s selection of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate seemed to have little impact on market sentiment.

August 10, 2020

Strong Economic Data, Shrugging Off Relief Package Stalemate

The White House and congressional Democrats remained far apart in relief package negotiations last week, and tensions continued to flare up between the U.S. and China—though markets largely ignored this concern.

August 3, 2020

Second-half Uncertainty Leading to Investor Caution

Vaccine optimism overshadowed a continued uptick in coronavirus infections and the re-imposition of some mitigation measures. In addition, consensus expectations continued to revolve around a fifth coronavirus relief package that could address some of the dampened recovery momentum.

July