June 19, 2020—It’s official. The longest economic expansion in U.S. history back to 1854 ended in February 2020, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).[i] The coronavirus pandemic ended an expansion that chugged along for ten years and eight months, as business closures and social-distancing measures to contain the outbreak brought economic output to a screeching halt in the span of just two months.
Wall Street is social distancing from Main Street. April was the best month for stocks since 1987, but the 36.5 million new unemployment claims filed harken back to the Great Depression. What gives?In an informative webinar on May 22, Chief Investment Officer Tony Roth, Chief Economist Luke Tilley and Head of Investment Strategy Meghan Shue, broke it all down in terms of our house view of what you can expect for markets and the economy. Listen now.
In the 1Q 2020 issue of our quarterly publication, we:Discuss how IG muni credits are expected to weather the current market dislocation.Present views on the support of the CARES Act.Offer views on the spate of expected downgrades in the U.S. financials sector. In the first quarter of 2020, the municipal market experienced a decade of turbulence.
