3rd Quarter Review: Another Case of Asian Flu?
As we discussed last month, China’s economic slowdown, dithering on interest rates from the US Federal Reserve, and declining commodity prices weighed heavily on financial markets in the third quarter.
As we discussed last month, China’s economic slowdown, dithering on interest rates from the US Federal Reserve, and declining commodity prices weighed heavily on financial markets in the third quarter.
Broad equity indexes were essentially flat in the second quarter; the S&P 500 Index (large caps), the Russell 2000 Index (small caps), and the MSCI EAFE Index (international stocks) all advanced less than 1%.
Despite some domestic economic headwinds, Euro-zone tension following January Greek elections, and expectations that the US Federal Reserve (the ‘Fed’) is ready to start raising short-term rates, the US stock market as measured by the S&P 500 managed to eke out a small 1% gain during this year’s first quarter.