Week of June 15 2017 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“That cotton trade was almost the deal breaker for me. It was at that point that I said, ‘Mr. Stupid, why risk everything on one trade? Why not make your life a pursuit of happiness rather than pain?’” – Paul Tudor Jones
1. Jeff Immelt to Step Down as CEO of GE; John Flannery Takes Role — General Electric Co. (GE) Chief Executive Jeff Immelt will step aside this summer, and replace by John Flannery, head of the company’s health-care business and retire as chairman of the board on Dec. 31. Under Immelt ‘s term, GE shares have vastly underperformed the stock market during his tenure.
2. U.S. Retail Sales Fell 0.3% in May — retail sales which reflecting consumer spending at stores, restaurants and websites—fell 0.3% in May from a month earlier, the Commerce Department reported. That marked the steepest drop since January 2016. A big factor was cheaper gasoline, which translated into less spending at service stations. But consumers also cut spending at big-box stores, electronics retailers and restaurants. Car sales, after hitting a record in 2016, have fallen nearly 2% over the past three months. Retail sales are a big component of consumer spending, which in turn accounts for roughly two-thirds of U.S. economic output.
3. Quantitative Investing Based on Computer Formulas Accounts for About 90% of All Trades — JPMorgan’s Marko Kolanovic stated that “The majority of equity investors today don’t buy or sell stocks based on stock specific fundamentals,” which estimates “fundamental discretionary traders” account for only about 10% of trading volume in equities.
4. Fed Raises Interest Rates and Sets Plan to Shrink $4.5 Trillion Balance Sheet ‘this year’ — the Fed as expected on Wednesday last week raised its benchmark federal-funds rate by a quarter percentage point to between 1% and 1.25% — the third increase in a year and a half. The Federal Reserve lifted a key U.S. interest rate and laid out a plan to shrink its massive $4.5 trillion balance sheet starting “this year,” a pair of moves reflecting its view that an economic expansion now entering its ninth year no longer needs so much propping up. Under the plan, the Fed will initially allow $6 billion a month in principal from maturing Treasury securities to runoff. That will increase in steps of $6 billion each quarter over a year until it reaches $30 billion a month. For mortgage-backed securities and federal agency debt, the Fed set an initial cap of $4 billion. That will increase in quarterly steps of $4 billion each quarter until it reaches $20 billion a month.
5. U.S. Stock ETF Inflows Surge — Investors raced into exchange-traded funds this past week despite market jitters, according to Lipper, delivering the most cash to those funds since late last year. Stock ETFs listed in the U.S. attracted $17.7B during the week ended June 14, while their mutual fund counterparts recorded $6.8B of outflows in their largest week of withdrawals since April.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
Tags: FOMC Meeting