The Fed went another step further this week in telegraphing a long period of accommodative policy and low rates with an announcement that they expect near-zero rates through 2023 and will look to achieve inflation moderately above 2% “for some time” before raising rates again.
Increasing COVID cases in Europe prompted fears and talk of further restrictions across the Atlantic, which contributed to early week volatility in equity markets, along with some weakening recovery data, led to the fourth consecutive week of declines in the S&P 500.
New Home Sales and mortgage applications were both significantly up, and housing continues to be a hot spot in the economy and a likely significant positive contributor to Q3 GDP.
August’s Durable Goods Orders increased 0.4% over the prior month, a significant miss from the expected 1.5%. The measure of business investment and capital expenditures paints a slowing recovery picture as businesses are expected to be tight with their budget amid uncertain demand and general slack in capacity through the remainder of the year. August’s figures followed a significant rise in July (11.7%), which helped propel many of the underlying categories to above their pre-pandemic levels.
In a further sign of the tech/growth times we find ourselves in, two big-name IPOs have been the talk of the street lately with Snowflake and Planatir obtaining big valuation figures. In general, despite the pandemic outside, investors have been backing the truck up to new IPOs, helping the IPO market run at a record pace.