Concerns about Europe and the global economy set a negative tone last week and markets closed out at a loss. The S&P lost 1.15%, while the Dow lost 1.67%, and the Nasdaq 0.76%. On a positive note, the U.S. economy continues to slowly improve as evidenced by a surprisingly positive consumer sentiment report, showing that American consumers are still upbeat about the economy. Jobless claims held steady for the week and some analysts speculate that the unusually...

The trading week started off slowly as investors absorbed further troubling news about the state of the global economy: Disappointing manufacturing reports from China, France, and Germany, plus news that the Netherlands might be heading for its own fiscal crisis.[1] Things turned around later in the week though, as domestic equities closed higher on positive news surrounding U.S. corporate earnings. The Dow managed to recoup all its April losses, closing up 1.53%...

Strong corporate earnings caused stocks to rally last week for the first time this month. The S&P closed up 0.6% for the week, while the Dow closed 1.4% higher, and the Nasdaq trimmed 0.36%. With no domestic economic reports released on Friday, traders turned their attention back to lingering concerns over Europe and China, and markets lost some momentum in afternoon trading. Even so, last week’s positive earnings reports are alleviating concerns about...