LPL Research

“Economic reports released in May 2018, largely reflecting economic activity in April, showed continued solid economic growth in the U.S.”

Overall, we think the global economic backdrop, particularly in the U.S., remains intact. Although the situation in Italy is an ongoing risk worth monitoring, we don’t believe it indicates a change in the trajectory of the global economy.

Market reaction to Italy’s political woes was swift and pronounced, but ultimately overdone.

When we compare Europe’s economic and corporate fundamentals with those in the U.S., even factoring in valuations, we think Europe comes up short.

The May jobs data were generally positive, and job growth may be accelerating after slowing since 2015.

Municipal bonds have outperformed broad high-quality fixed income since early 2017.

After a great start to 2018, we believe small caps’ strength to continue.

The Fed minutes’ emphasis on a symmetric inflation target reassured markets that the pace of rate hikes would remain gradual.

Signs of emerging market debt (EMD) weakness have been evident since late April.

We continue to prefer emerging market (EM) equities in tactical asset allocations.