Once again, the markets continued to ebb and flow over the last week. As we’ve seen before, the push and pull of mixed news has continued to create a very volatile environment for traders. This week saw rising hope for the coronavirus vaccine, as well as a positive start to earnings season. However, concerns about the economy and the sheer explosion in new coronavirus cases managed to keep gains in check throughout the week.
Several key states have started to roll back their reopening plans as cases have continued to spike. This, along with deteriorating data, put traders on edge as the economy isn’t out of the woods just yet. Data from housing, manufacturing and inflation figures all clocked in poor.
However, the start of earnings season provided a big boost for traders this week. As the big banks kicked off the next reporting period, so far, the news has been pretty positive. With the quarter coming in during the height of the pandemic, investors were generally pleased with results so far, suggesting that the pandemic may have not damaged profits by too much.
All in all, the week continued the volatile pattern we’ve seen since the pandemic first took hold.
Be sure to check out our previous Wrap here, when China set the market on fire.
