LPL Research

“Economic reports released in June 2018, largely reflecting economic activity in May, showed continued solid economic growth in the U.S. and provided evidence of a pickup in growth from seasonally weak first quarter levels.”

Although we believe investors will be spared an all-out trade war, spreads across fixed income sectors are pointing to heightened trade concerns.

Trade tensions between the U.S. and China have escalated in the last month, but negotiation still remains the main path forward.

Escalating trade tensions have made for a difficult investing environment.

The BOJ meeting last week was a nonevent, as expected, but last week’s Fed and ECB meetings gave investors some minor surprises.

Increased business capital expenditures, or “capex,” remain one of the most important pieces for improving the long-term growth trajectory of the U.S. economy.

Capital investment is accelerating, a trend we believe should continue.

Downgraded precious metals view to negative/neutral from neutral.

Investment-grade (IG) corporate bonds have been the worst-performing high-quality bond segment year to date.

The Fed is widely expected to raise rates for the second time this year at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday.