labor market

Weekly Update

Were Investors Too Pessimistic?

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Published April 17, 2026

 

Delta Research thinks so. The stock market’s historic move over the past 10 days has caught many investors off guard. For the first time in many moons, retail investors did NOT buy March’s sharp dip in stocks. As we’ve noted in other articles, the specter of private credit defaults, AI rampaging through the software industry, and, lastly, a war that brought oil and gas transport to a near halt were a combination of fears that pummeled the psyches of investors. It was, then, remarkable that the stock market was down only -10%. Are there more shoes to drop in the future? Or was this, like last year’s “tariff tantrum” a quick flush of bearishness in an upward sea of bullish market behavior? Time will tell. (more…)

Weekly Update

2025 Outlook – Part 1

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Published December 20, 2024

 

As we approach year-end, the major banks and investment houses are publishing their outlooks for the coming year. Below is Schwab’s 2025 outlook. We routinely pass along commentary from Schwab. We have no opinion on their output other than recognizing its outsized influence on the broader investment public. Our models have no link to any information from a broker. We use price, volume, and related market data as our only inputs. Here’s what Schwab sees: (more…)

Weekly Update

Mid-Year Review of Markets and Economies

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Published June 16, 2023

 

We routinely publish Schwab’s longer-term (6-12 month) outlooks as part of our weekly blog. Below is their mid-year outlook beginning with a brief review of what has transpired so far in 2023 compared to what they thought. Schwab has been very cautious on the stock market for many months. Read below to see if the recent lift in stock prices has shifted their view. (more…)

Weekly Update

Bulls and Bears in a Massive Tussle

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Published August 19, 2022

 

It has been quite a long time since we have seen such disparity in the narratives flowing down Wall Street. How long and hard the Fed will tighten rates is one source of contention. But it’s not the biggest. That would belong to where corporate earnings are headed, which is sort of a Street barometer for whether or not the economy falls into a recession (how deep that recession is a third dimension discussion floating around also). (more…)

Weekly Update

Labor Market Details Reveal a Weakening Condition

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Published July 15, 2022

 

Last week we noted that some economists argue we are not approaching (or in) recession because the labor market is too strong to suggest that. This week, we follow Schwab’s Liz Ann Sonders as she takes a deep dive into the state of the labor market and comes to a different conclusion, namely that the labor market, though strong, has been trending weaker. Here’s Schwab’s Sonders with all kinds of analysis to back up her view. (more…)

Weekly Update

This Weird Job Market

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Published December 31, 2021

We can think of few other aspects of life that have changed so dramatically from the pandemic as employment and the job market. Radiating outward from the changes in the job market, wages are the most critical component of inflation, a huge buzzword in 2021. If wages have been permanently kick-started into a regime of growth, then inflation will remain far more than a transitory influence in the economy and markets. (more…)

Weekly Update

An Overview of Current Economic and Market Conditions

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Published January 29, 2021

This has been the rare week where investment news has become very mainstream. The frenzied trading in Gamestop and other heavily-shorted stocks has created all kinds of buzz. There are plenty of articles discussing the phenomenon of the armies of individual investors going after big-money short sellers. Once the sparks stop flying and the dust settles, there will be some big winners and losers from this market aberration. Meanwhile, the broader markets roll on, mostly unaffected by the turmoil in that handful of stocks. (more…)