Happy 4th of July! The major U.S. stock indexes posted incremental daily gains throughout the week, rising around 1% to 2% overall. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ added to their record highs set the previous week, while the Dow eclipsed a record that it set nearly two months earlier. Through Wednesday’s close of the first half of the year, U.S. stocks extended their strong run that began in the spring of 2020. The S&P 500 posted a 15.3% return through the first six months of this year and all 11 sectors were positive. In honor of the holiday, I have broken down this week’s news using quotes from our Founding Fathers.
If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new exertions and proportion our efforts to the exigency of the times. -George Washington
Hundreds of businesses were affected late Friday by a cyberattack. The United States is rising to meet what is the new difficulty of our day. President Biden stated he would use “full resources of the federal government”. He also commented that “the initial thinking was it was not the Russian government” though they are continuing to investigate.
In the main, it will be found that a power over a man’s support (salary) is a power over his will. – Alexander Hamilton
Is your company doing enough with the power they’ve been given over the piece of your salary that goes into your retirement plan? Employees of Northwestern University say no and now their case will be heard by the Supreme Court. They accuse the school of breaching their fiduciary duty by causing participants in the school’s retirement plan to pay excessive fees. Depending on how the court rules the decision could have significant implications to all company sponsored retirement plans.
Through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. – John Adams
Job growth has been a ray of light as we rise from the pandemic. The pace of job growth accelerated in June, rebounding from recent moderation in the U.S. labor market’s recovery from the pandemic. The economy generated 850,000 new jobs last month, exceeding most economists’ expectations for around 700,000. In April and May, job growth totaled 269,000 and 583,000, respectively.
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