Last Week: The S&P 500 slipped 0.25%, the yield on the Ten-Year Treasury slid 10 basis points to 2.85%, while the U.S Dollar strengthened over 1% to a new 2018 high. The chart below shows the link between the strength in the dollar and the S&P this year, particularly since the end of March when the “Trade War” dialogue started dominating the headlines. It’s hard to tell how the dollar and [...]
Last Week: Our TIEs (Trade, Interest rates, Earnings) theme remained the dominate narrative, with relatively benign developments on the Trade and Interest rates front and continued spectacular Earnings. Unlike most quarters when analysts make downward revisions to earnings estimates as the reporting season approaches, in the first and second quarters of 2018 analysts increased expectations ahead of earnings reports. Even with elevated expectations, 78.2% of the index reported first quarter earnings [...]