July 17, 2020

Good morning,

Yesterday saw another sluggish performance by the U.S. equity markets with all three major indices declining on the day.  The Dow snapped a 4-day winning streak dropping 135.39 points, or 0.50%.  Likewise, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ also dropped, 10.99 and 76.66 points, or 0.34% and 0.73%, respectively.

A sharp decline in Netflix set the pace for many stocks in the tech sector, including Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet which all lost ground this week.  Tech’s struggles have brought to light the divergence in the performance between the Dow and S&P 500 and that of the NASDAQ.  Week-to-date, the Dow and S&P 500 are up 1% and 2.4%, respectively, with the NASDAQ falling more than 1% to post its first weekly loss in the last three.

Trading is rather subdued today, with the three major indices hovering just above or below zero.  The struggle continues between the renewed lockdowns and the potential effects on an economy already fighting its way back from the initial virus restrictions.  As always, the consumer – confidence and spending – will play a big part in accessing the extent to which recent restrictions will slow economic recovery.

Have a great weekend.