Edward Jones - Financial Advisor: Ben Watson

To frame the August swings, we examine what's changed, what hasn't and what the evolving conditions may mean for the road ahead.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

Markets spent the past week largely treading water. While there were no major surprises, we do think the Federal Reserve's freshest commentary provided three key takeaways that will be important for markets ahead.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

Markets over the past week continued to recover from the previous week's sharp pullback.

In our view, the backdrop of softer inflation and cooling but positive economic growth still points to a Fed that will likely begin cutting rates as soon as the September 18 FOMC meeting.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

For any investors that were looking the 2024 gift horse in the mouth, last week showed some teeth. We don't think the recent pullback should be patently dismissed, but panic is not the proper reaction either.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

The final week of July was a whirlwind, filled with a flurry of earnings reports, three central bank meetings and key labor market data. We look at five key turning points that may define performance in the months ahead.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

After more than 1 ½ years of large-cap growth sectors and the "Magnificent 7" leading the market, what has caused a somewhat sudden rotation away from the tech darlings? We highlight three key elements.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

As we kicked off 2024, one of our 10 key calls for the year was our view that while equity markets would continue to perform well, the market's underlying leadership would rotate, broadening out beyond 2023's Magnificent Seven concentration.

We take a look at how this recently showed up within three key market matchups, and what it may mean for investors' portfolios.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

Check out our midyear review and outlook for the back half of 2024 in our latest Weekly Market Wrap.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

Our latest Weekly Market Wrap discusses a potential silver lining to the cooling economy and how inflation may also be resuming a gradual cooling period. Read on for potential effects on the markets, whether or not we see moderating inflation.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

With the first half of 2024 now in the books, our latest Weekly Market Wrap takes a look at a few notable winners and losers in the markets. Check out our views on what that performance means for the remainder of the year.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

In our latest Weekly Market Wrap, we explore the current state of the consumer, the outlook for spending and the implications for both the economy and the markets.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

The June FOMC meeting and U.S. inflation data were front and center last week, with both offering some positive news for the bulls. Our Weekly Market Wrap highlights potential market opportunities ahead.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

The onset of summer coincided with signs of a cooling economy and mixed signals on the labor market, best described as a gradual normalization rather than a sudden shift.

We highlight four trends to watch in our latest Weekly Market Wrap.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

This year's intense focus on the timing of a potential Fed rate cut, as well as the mania around AI, have been well documented. But there's more to this market than meets the eye.

We share three things that might come as a surprise in our latest Weekly Market Wrap.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

After 4 weeks of rallying, markets took a breather last week, despite stellar earnings from the artificial intelligence (AI) darling Nvidia. While returns were narrow and concentrated in the technology space early on, diversification will likely be a key theme as the bull market continues and matures.

Find out more in our latest Weekly Market Wrap.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

With inflation's peak in the rear view, and the stock market climbing to a new summit in recent days, last week highlighted the role the descent in inflation is having on the ascent in equities. We think these conjoining trends can persist, though likely with a few more hiccups along the way.

Check out our peak perspectives in our latest Weekly Market Wrap.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

As the first quarter earnings season wraps up, we offer our take on the state of corporate America, which provides a valuable compass for evaluating the overall trajectory of stocks.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

After five months of sharp and steady gains beginning last November, the mood in the financial markets has shifted in recent weeks. The catalysts for the swing – Fed policy, the jobs market, corporate earnings – were all in the spotlight last week.

We offer our take in our latest Weekly Market Wrap.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

Between a barrage of corporate earnings, the first quarter GDP report, and the release of the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, investors had plenty to digest as markets continue navigate a bumpy start to the second quarter.

While new data flooded in, the narrative stayed largely unchanged in our view, and stocks recovered some of the April losses on the back of strength from tech.

We offer our take on last week's developments along with portfolio implications.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

After a 25% run higher in the S&P 500 over the past six months, the tone in the markets in recent weeks seems to have shifted. In our view, volatility has been sparked by a trifecta of recent data and news flow.

We share our take on three drivers of the recent market pullback in our latest Weekly Market Wrap.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

Along with last week's solar eclipse came another seemingly rare event: the stock market turned lower, with hotter-than-expected inflation data eclipsing the enthusiasm around upcoming Fed rate cuts.

Although we've been of the view that the recent sharp market rally will eventually need to blink, more broadly, we still think there's a good case for investors to look up.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

Employment conditions plus inflation trends equals Fed interest rate decisions. This is the calculus that has been guiding market performance for the past two years.

The first variable in that equation was in full focus last week as the latest jobs report provided a fresh look at the state of the labor market. While the better-than-expected results showed that the economy remains in good health, markets will continue to do the math on what this means for upcoming Fed actions.

In our latest Weekly Market Wrap, we offer our take on the implications for markets as we advance.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

The last time the Fed achieved a soft landing was in 1995 when a successful pivot to rate cuts supported the start of a multi-year rally. Today, investors are hoping to achieve a similar outcome as most central banks are eyeing the start of rate cuts in the months ahead.

In our latest Weekly Market Wrap, we examine the similarities and differences in the macroeconomic backdrop between now and the mid-'90s and offer our views of where the opportunities lie.

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Last week, the Federal Reserve held its March Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and press conference and also released an updated set of economic projections. We share our takeaways in our latest Weekly Market Wrap.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of the bank crisis that saw the collapse of several regional banks, an episode that roiled financial markets as it sparked memories of banking system challenges in 2008.

In our latest Weekly Market Wrap, we share a few perspectives on what's changed since the bank crisis and what it may mean for the investment landscape ahead.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

This past week, markets digested several datapoints that indicated the U.S. labor market may be showing early signs of fatigue.

In our view, given the ongoing easing in inflation and now more signs of a cooling labor market, the Fed likely remains on track to begin a rate-cutting cycle later this year, perhaps starting around the June meeting.

We share more of our takeaways in our latest Weekly Market Wrap.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

Rising markets and low volatility always rank high on investor's wish lists. In the past four months, we've been fortunate to experience precisely that.

In our latest Weekly Market Wrap, we share five takeaways from February's market performance.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

With the sharp rally sending the S&P 500 to a record high in recent days, you wouldn't think it would be hard for investors to find good news. We think the bull market looks to have runway ahead, but we also know that even the best markets run out of breath occasionally. In this latest installment of the Weekly Market Wrap, we offer three signs that can give investors confidence in the broader outlook for this market.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

Although stocks recovered from a sharp drop after last week's CPI inflation report – and the S&P 500 even approached new all-time highs – investors may be feeling anxious.

Can inflation continue to moderate, as it has over the past year, even in the face of resilient economic growth? Or, is this a start of a trend in the wrong direction?

We share our views in our latest Weekly Market Wrap.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

The S&P 500 crossed the 5,000 milestone, a fresh record high for the index. While 5,000 is an arbitrary number and simply an attention-grabbing psychological threshold, it is symbolic of the market's strength and resiliency in the face of a historically sharp adjustment in interest rates.

With the economy defying expectations for a slowdown and stocks having rallied about 20% over the past three months, investors are wondering what's next. Our latest Weekly Market Wrap shares our views on five common questions.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.