Weekly Market Wrap Up, April 5, 2013

Industry Performance – Investment Banking Goldman Sachs’ 15.7% return led global investment bank stocks in 1Q, followed by Morgan Stanley (15.2%). Both companies have shown a cost control commitment, and the revenue outlook has improved with markets. The two have among the highest capital markets earnings exposure. Nomura’s 14.7% return closely follows, with continued Japanese […]

Weekly Market Wrap Up, March 29, 2013

Banking – Eurozone Compensation Draft proposals from EU legislators to ban bonuses more than twice bankers’ fixed pay could reduce European bank competitiveness. With the compensation backlash fiercer in the EU, the bloc’s lenders could struggle to retain employees and banking business market share from Asian or U.S. peers. A number of European banks, including […]

Weekly Market Wrap Up, March 1, 2013

Sequester Overview Congressional stalemates are no unfamiliarity to the U.S. bureaucratic environment. This time around congress has the federal government contemplating the fiscal future of our accounts. On the eve of the Sequester, the federal government approaches the March 1st deadline to execute $85.3 billion across-the-board. There are three plans to avoid so-called sequestration though […]

State Farm Financial Literacy Lab: SMIF Consumer Staples Outlook

During economic downturns, investors often flock to the consumer staples sector because consumer staples is mainly comprised of companies that sell nondurable goods, goods that do not last longer than three years. These products, which are necessities, have inelastic demand because when the economy is in a recession, consumers have lower disposable income; this steers […]

Weekly Market Wrap Up, April 9-13, 2012

Earnings Week kicked off on Friday as seven major market-moving companies reported their numbers; five of the seven companies posted better than expected earnings. Alcoa Inc. (AA) reported $0.01 earnings per share, beating market expectations of -$0.04. Other companies that reported positive earnings were Google Inc. (GOOG), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), and Wells Fargo […]