by Connor Darrell, Head of Investments
The S&P 500 managed to rally last week (posting a 1.66% gain), but markets have had limited time to digest the further escalation in trade rhetoric coming from the G7 summit in Quebec (which ended on Saturday). President Trump’s continued focus on economic protectionism has caused consternation among major trade partners, and the risk remains that significant changes to trade policy could hinder long term global economic growth.
The week of June 11th is likely to bring multiple events that have the potential to significantly impact financial markets, including monetary policy meetings in the US, Europe, and Japan, in addition to the historic summit between the U.S. and North Korea on Tuesday in Singapore. We will do our best to break down the important takeaways in next week’s update.
We continue to emphasize to clients that in the long run, markets are driven by the underlying economic environment and growth in corporate earnings. That backdrop remains quite favorable at this time. As investors, we need to be aware of how politics and policy impact our portfolios, but barring a major change to the forward outlook, the long-term strategy should remain largely in place.