US stocks powered ahead, driven by technology companies. International stocks remained flat as the dollar strengthened and trade talks returned to the headlines. The US and Mexico agreed in principle to a trade agreement to replace NAFTA, but there are significant hurdles to make it law and Canada is still in negotiation.
Weekly Returns
S&P 500: 2,901 (+0.9%)
FTSE All-World ex-US (VEU): (-0.1%)
US 10 Year Treasury Yield: 2.86% (+0.04%)
Gold: $1,201 (-0.3%)
EUR/USD: $1.160 (-0.2%)
Major Events
Our Take
Apple and Amazon were each up about 5% this week. That doesn’t sound especially noteworthy until you take a step back and consider that these upticks represent over $100 billion of valuation combined. Year to date, the two companies are up roughly 35% and 70%, respectively. Now we’re talking about around $500 billion of added valuation in eight months, or around the entire value of consumer giants Nike, Starbucks, McDonalds and Disney in their long histories combined.
Apple and Amazon are exciting companies, but there hasn’t been any huge news from either company beyond very solid execution results. Either the market mispriced them too low at the beginning of the year or is mispricing them too highly now. Only time will tell.
