Latest from the Blog

The Major Markets closed mostly higher with only the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending lower. For the S&P 500, the week began with the blue-chip index trading in a tight range just under the all-time highs of the index. In the end, the gains for the week took place on Thursday and Friday when the index finally crossed the prior all-time high to end the week 0.4% higher. In Economic News, Tuesday’s NFIB Labor Survey fell for the first time this year, as respondents highlighted inflation concerns and hiring troubles. This report was followed up by the Department of Labor’s Job Opening survey which saw a record 9.3 million job openings. This far exceeded March revised 8.3 million openings and the pre-pandemic record of 7.6 million from November of 2018. At Leap Wealth Management, we continue to evaluate the market and help our clients make financial decisions based on their goals. Contact us today to learn how we can help you! www.leapwealth.com

It is the Un-Official Start of Summer! The Major Markets all closed higher on a relatively quiet and shortened trading week. The top performing Index was Small Cap 600. The Energy sector led all others last week, primarily due to an increase in future oil prices. In economic news, new jobs missed expectations again with only 559000 jobs added for non-farm payrolls. This week’s economic reports will be focused on Job Openings and the CPI report for May- the hope is they are on the path to returning to pre-pandemic levels. At Leap Wealth, we cut through the noise and apply a process of opinions. Contact us today to learn more. www.leapwealth.com

Positive performance returns with greatest gains in Nasdaq and Emerging Markets. The markets are experiencing the aftermath of the stimulus payments. Last week housing sales were lower than expected, as were pending homes sales. Personal incomes were also down. However, core inflation continues to rise, exceeding expectations. In this shortened trading week, we pause to remember and honor those who gave their lives for us to be here, live in this country, to have the daily freedoms we enjoy and because of that ultimate sacrifice, the ability to build a foundation of a better future for generations to come. At Leap Wealth, we continue to evaluate the market and help our clients make financial decisions based on their goals. Contact us today to learn how we can help you! www.leapwealth.com

What more does the market want? Are expectations too high? A lot of back and forth last week due to some “uninspiring” economic reports: The Home Builders Index hovers near all-time highs, New Building Permits and Housing starts are still near 10 year record high, No significant changes in Fed Policies. All of this, which is not bad, led to a pretty flat week overall. While Cryptocurrency is not considered “Investment Grade”, Bitcoin volatility took a little luster from speculators eyes. Bitcoin fell over 25% last week and down more than 50% from its all time highs. We get quite a few questions about crypto. At Leap Wealth, we believe in process over opinion and help our clients advance and protect their wealth. Contact one of our advisors today to learn more. www.leapwealth.com

The Major Markets pulled back last week, yet managed to recover a little by Friday. Three of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed flat to slightly higher; so not all bad news. The downtrend began on Monday and continued to progress through the week. The lows came on Wednesday after the release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Early CPI estimates expected a month over month reading of 0.2%. Instead, it was 0.8% and led to an increase of 4.2% - the highest reading since September of 2008. These numbers lead to more inflation concerns. Rising fuel prices had already been an issue prior to the Colonial Pipeline being hacked. The hackers shut down the four largest pipelines serving the eastern and southern US regions. The national average of gasoline rose yet again to $3.12/gallon, the highest since October of 2014. Equity markets were not the only ones having a back week, Treasuries suffered as well. At Leap Wealth, we are here to help our clients manage through the noise. We leverage sophisticated technology typically only available to institutional investors in order to advance and protect our clients wealth. Contact us today to learn more. www.leapwealth.com

Did you like to ride a See-Saw when you were a kid? How about as an investor? It was another mixed week for the Major Markets as all but the tech centric Nasdaq managed to close higher. Not surprising, Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary stocks were down as a result. Last week was the heaviest week for earnings results, yet the news whether positive or negative largely fell on deaf ears. Supply constraints, pent up demand, and rising prices were aspects that caught analysts attention beyond the headline numbers. Economists were looking for around 1 million new jobs, but saw an increase of only 266,000 however, businesses appear to be hiring. The National Federation of Independent Business or NFIB Small Business Optimism Index. reported “42% of owners reported job openings that could not be filled, a record high reading. Owners continue to have difficulty finding qualified workers to fill jobs as they compete with increased unemployment benefits and the pandemic keeping some workers out of the labor force.” The political fallout of the various economic reports caused the sparks to fly in Washington D.C. At Leap Wealth, we believe in process over opinion. We leverage sophisticated technology to help our clients Advance and Protect their wealth. Contact us today to learn how we can help you. www.leapwealth.com