Economic Beat: Financial News
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
September 16, 2024
S&P 500 gives best week of returns for 2024
Over the last week, global equities moved higher with the S&P 500 posting the best weekly return in 2024, recovering most of the losses observed from the prior week. The dollar index moved slightly lower during the week, ending down 0.1%. The Consumer Price Inflation came in at 2.5%, and the Producer Price Index came in at 1.7%. The University of Michigan Sentiment index came in above expectations and above last month’s reading, driven by moderating inflation and prospects for an improvement in household income. This week, investors will get new data points on the U.S. Consumer with Retail sales figures reporting changes relative to last month. On Wednesday, the U.S. Central Bank will detail its latest thoughts around interest rates and market participants will get updates on the Federal Reserve’s Summary of Economic Projections, which will detail to the market what the central bank’s forecasts are on GDP, Inflation, and Unemployment for 2024 and 2025.
September 9, 2024
Largest domestic companies post solid earnings growth
Domestic equities finished their worst week in eighteen months as labor market related uncertainty sparked economic slowdown fear. The August nonfarm jobs report pointed to additional signs of a softening U.S. labor market and added volatility to the financial markets. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2% from 4.3%. Second quarter earnings for the S&P 500 are largely complete with the largest domestic companies posting solid earnings growth, suggesting strength and resiliency in the domestic economy. The second quarter will mark the highest year-over-year earnings growth rate reported by the index since second quarter 2021. It will also mark the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year earnings growth for the index. In the week ahead, investors will be digesting a slew of both economic and corporate earnings data with the release of the August report of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and releases of wholesale pricing, consumer credit, small business optimism, and initial jobless claims this week.