Winthrop Partners Weekly Updates 1-21-2020

The Markets (as of market close January 17, 2020)

Each of the benchmark indexes listed here enjoyed strong gains last week, led by the Russell 2000, which climbed 2.53% to push its year-to-date gains to nearly 2.0%. The Dow has posted weekly gains for five of the last six weeks, the S&P 500 advanced for the second consecutive week, and the Nasdaq has risen for six straight weeks. A strong housing starts report helped push stocks higher. But investors were most encouraged by advances on the trade front with Congress passing a revised trade deal between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, which was followed by last Thursday’s signing of the first phase of a trade agreement between the United States and China.

Oil prices dropped again last week, closing at $58.73 per barrel by late Friday afternoon, down from the prior week’s price of $59.14. The price of gold (COMEX) fell for the first time in several weeks, closing at $1,556.80 by late Friday afternoon, off from the prior week’s price of $1,561.60. The national average retail regular gasoline price was $2.570 per gallon on January 13, 2020, $0.008 lower than the prior week’s price but $0.323 more than a year ago. Click here for more:Winthrop Partners Weekly Update 1-21-2020