Mark Hamrick

The Labor Department on Tuesday reported an 8.3% year-over-year increase in the consumer price index for August, which sent the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) spiraling lower.  The headline CPI rose 8.3% in August, down from 8.5% in July,...

President Joe Biden and now-former President Donald Trump delivered separate remarks on Wednesday, and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) traded higher by 1.2% as the transition of power proceeded smoothly in Washington. Biden’s Words: At his inauguration to become the 46th president...

For the 22nd time in the past 23 weeks, the Labor Department reported more than 1 million new weekly U.S. jobless claims on Thursday morning. The Numbers: The Labor Department reported just over 1 million initial jobless claims for the week ending Aug. 22, down from 1.104 million claims reported in...

April brought the highest unemployment rate — and monthly rate increase — since the Great Depression. And the lowest labor force participation rate since 1973. And the lowest employment-to-population ratio since the U.S. began tracking seasonally adjusted data in 1948. Basically, April...

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) traded lower by 0.3% on Thursday after the Labor Department reported weekly jobless claims of 5.245 million, bringing the running total for the coronavirus downturn up to 22 million. This week’s jobless claims were down 1.37 million, suggesting the...

In an emergency measure, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 0.5% on Tuesday, citing concerns about the negative economic impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The Fed lowered its fed fund target rate range from between 1.5% and 1.75% to a new target range of between 1% and 1.25...

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)'s 48-hour Prime Day sales event is a "big deal" for the entire retail sector, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets' Edward Yruma. Yruma: Amazon Faces Competition Amazon deserves credit for starting a new industrywide sales event in July, but other...

Job growth ground nearly to a stop last month with the U.S. economy adding the fewest number of workers to payrolls since well over a year ago. Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 20,000, the worst job creation month since September of 2017, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. While fewer...

President Donald Trump delivered his highly anticipated State of the Union address Tuesday night. While Trump didn’t drop any major bombshells in the speech, he did touch on several issues that could impact financial markets. Trade War U.S. investors were hoping for a positive update on trade...

For the second straight morning, U.S. investors concerned about an imminent recession received data suggesting the economy is stronger than expected. The S&P 500 traded higher on Friday morning after the U.S. jobs market bounced back from a relatively weak November reading and exceeded...

The S&P 500 rebounded Friday morning after the latest U.S. jobs report was slightly weaker than expected. Slowing but strong jobs growth could prompt the Federal Reserve to slow or pause its interest rate hikes, but one economist says it also serves as an indicator a U.S. recession is not...

Every month, the Department of Labor releases data pertaining to the unemployment rate, wage rates and the overall status of the economy. Despite poor headline numbers, TD Ameritrade chief market strategist JJ Kinahan said the economy is showing innate strength. “What [the report] does...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released employment data for the month of February, and the jobs report blew expectations out of the water. Here’s a rundown of everything you need to know. What You need To Know The nonfarm payroll number came in at +313,000, and the private payroll...

There were few surprises in President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union Address on Tuesday night, but investors did get some glimpses of what they can expect from the administration in 2018. Following the speech, several analysts, economists and financial experts weighed in on the...

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced Friday it will acquire Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) for $13.7 billion dollars, but while both stocks shot up on the news, other major grocers dropped like a stone. It’s just the latest move in Amazon’s seemingly unstoppable growth...