by Connor Darrell CFA, Assistant Vice President – Head of Investments
Equities continued to push higher during the holiday shortened week after the U.S. and China agreed to a temporary trading truce as the two nations continue to try and negotiate a long-term deal. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported stronger than expected job growth during the month of June, and that news caused stocks to pull back a bit from their highs as it was perceived that the news might decrease the probability of an interest rate cut during July. Bond investors are still pricing in a full quarter point cut at the July 31 Federal Reserve meeting. As we discussed in our quarterly commentary, equity and bond markets continue to project different levels of optimism about the global economy. Equity markets seem to anticipate that new economic stimulus will be enough to keep the economy firing on all cylinders over the next couple of years, while bond markets seem less enthusiastic.