_ U.S. stocks end with a total loss for the month of January_
San Jose, CA – U.S. and European stocks fell again on Friday, January 31. With the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) down more than 600 points, or 2%, U.S. stock markets ended up with a small loss for the whole of January. While losses in European stock markets were not as bad on Friday, they were over 3% for the month. Japanese stocks were also down in January, marking a worldwide stock market decline for the first month of the year.
U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average gains for the year wiped out
San José, CA – Stock markets around the world fell on Monday, January 27, with U.S. stocks down about 1.5%, the biggest fall since October of last year. The headline Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell more than 450 points, wiping out all the gains made earlier in the year. Many overseas markets saw even deeper declines, with European stock off 2.5%.
Milwaukee, WI – Australia has been burning since early October 2019, with 1020 square miles having been burnt already. The country has been in a state of emergency for nearly three full months, with major cities like Sydney receiving a fire danger level of “catastrophic.” People are flocking to the beaches in fear of the flames because they have nowhere else to go. Aboriginal communities like the Yuin in the town of Mogo are being impacted the hardest. 25 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the fires, and estimates suggest that millions of animals have been killed.
San José, CA – The U.S. stock market started October with back-to-back declines fueled by growing fears of a recession. On Tuesday, October 1, stocks fell by 1% or more following the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) reporting on their Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for September. The index fell to 47.8, showing a contraction in the manufacturing sector – any report below 50 shows manufacturing shrinking, above 50 shows growth. The August PMI report at 49.1 also showed a drop in manufacturing, the first time in three years. The September reading showed that the decline was accelerating and was the lowest level for the PMI since the end of the last recession, more than 10 years ago.
San José, CA – On Friday, August 23, the U.S. stock market opened lower, on the news that China was retaliating to Trump's latest round of tariffs. It then recovered after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole economic conference. Then Trump tweeted that he was “ordering” U.S. companies to leave China, and stocks dived, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending with a loss of more than 600 points or almost 2.5% lower. The broader S&P 500 average fell a bit more than 2.5% percent and the NASDAQ composite, which is heavily weighted towards technology companies, fell 3%.
Recession fears make Trump backtrack in trade war with China
San José, CA – On Wednesday, August 14, the U.S. stock market tanked, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 800 points, or 3%. The technology-heavy NASDAQ index also fell 3% and the S&P 500 fell just shy of 3%. This is the third day in a row of major market moves: Down more than 450 points on Monday, up 375 points on Tuesday, and now down again.
San José, CA – U.S. stocks fell again on Monday, August 12 as growing recession worries were added to ongoing concern about the direction of Trump’s trade war with China. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 400 points, or 1.5%, while the broader markets fell by smaller percentages of about 1.2%.
San José, CA – On Monday, August 5, China replied to Trump’s new tariff threat by calling off the purchases of U.S. agricultural products and weakening government support for the RMB, China’s currency. In response the RMB fell to 14 U.S. cents, meaning it will take slightly more than 7 RMB to buy one U.S. dollar. Soybean prices also fell, as China is the largest foreign buyer of U.S. soybeans.
San José, CA – On Thursday, July 31, President Trump tweeted that he would be imposing new tariffs, or taxes, on the $300 billion of Chinese goods not covered by his 25% tariffs. U.S. stocks took an immediate dive, giving up all of their 300-point gain to drop 280 points for the day. They continued to fall on Friday, leading to the worst week for U.S. stocks all year.
San José, CA – More cracks showed up in the U.S. economic expansion as the May employment report saw a gain of only 75,000 net new jobs, less than half what most economists expected. In addition, the Labor Department revised the job creation numbers down by 75,000 for March and April. Over the last four months the economy has added new jobs at a rate of 130,000 per month, much less than the 223,000 new jobs added each month on average in 2018.
