Analyzing Data Amid Declines
The Weekly Update
Week of November 19, 2018
By Christopher T. Much, CFP®, AIF®
Markets experienced more volatility last week, as perspectives on trade, tech, and retail pulled investor sentiment back and forth. Although domestic indexes were up on Friday, November 16, they still posted losses for the week. In all, the S&P 500 dropped 1.61%, the Dow declined 2.22%, and the NASDAQ gave back 2.15%. International stocks in the MSCI EAFE ended the week down 1.51%.
A major topic over the past couple weeks has been the ongoing, significant declines in oil prices. Last week, we did experience one turnaround—on Friday, signs that oil production may decrease next month helped oil prices start to rebound. This pricing increase contributed to S&P 500 energy stocks rising 1.1%.
In addition to oil’s current trajectory, let’s examine some of the key October data we received last week:
- Retail Sales Beat Projections
October’s retail sales were the …