The second full week of August 2018 was mostly uneventful for the S&P 500 (Index: SPX). From Monday, 6 August 2018 through Thursday, 9 August 2018, the index teased the possibility of topping its previous high record of 2,872.87 that was set back on 26 January 2018.
And then, for lack of a better description, Turkey happened, and the S&P 500 retreated by 0.7% on Friday, 10 August 2018 to close the week at 2,833.28.
To be fair, Turkey didn’t so much happen as it finally started catching up to what has been happening to the country under the hands of its increasingly dictatorial ruler over the past five years, where the collapse of its currency on Friday, 10 August 2018 sent shock waves through the world’s equity and emerging markets. Emerging markets, because of an elevated risk of contagion not seen since Greece’s economy imploded earlier in the decade. Equity markets, because of the exposure of financial institutions to that contagion.
That’s a short summary of the view from 30,000 feet. Here are the main market-moving headlines we noted for Week 2 of August 2018.
Monday, 6 August 2018
Tuesday, 7 August 2018
Wednesday, 8 August 2018
Thursday, 9 August 2018
Friday, 10 August 2018
