The Independent Market Observer

Sam Millette

Sam Millette is director, fixed income, on the Investment Management and Research team at Commonwealth. With the firm since 2013, he manages the fixed income research team, responds to advisor requests, analyzes individual bonds, and authors market research and commentary. Sam graduated from Tufts University with a degree in economics and is a member of the CFA Society Boston.

Recent Posts

Monday Update: Unemployment Claims Remain Stubbornly High

September 14, 2020

Last week was relatively quiet on the economic update front, with reports on inflation and weekly unemployment providing the highlights. This week will be much busier, with updates scheduled to cover consumer confidence and spending, the housing market, and the Fed’s September meeting.

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Monday Update: August Employment Report Beats Expectations

September 8, 2020

Last week’s economic highlights included important releases on business confidence, international trade, and the employment market. This week will be relatively quiet due to the holiday, with releases scheduled on inflation and the weekly initial jobless claims.

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Monday Update: Consumer Confidence Mixed in August

August 31, 2020

Last week was jam-packed with economic news, with reports covering wide swaths of the economy released. Both major measures of consumer confidence for August revealed mixed results. This week will be busy once again, with updates focusing on business confidence and the August employment report.

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Monday Update: Housing Sector Recovery Accelerates

August 24, 2020

Last week, the economic highlight was the housing sector, which has continued to impress since reopening efforts took hold, driven by record low mortgage rates. This will be a busy week for updates, with reports scheduled to cover wide swaths of the economy.

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Monday Update: Retail Sales Growth Slows in July

August 17, 2020

Last week was relatively busy on the economic update front, with a focus on inflation, retail sales, and consumer confidence. The reports came in mixed, with better-than-expected results for consumer confidence and jobless claims offsetting disappointing retail sales data and faster-than-anticipated inflation in July. This week will be relatively quiet for economic updates, with releases focusing on the housing sector and the minutes from the Fed’s most recent meeting.

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Monday Update: Jobs Report for July Beats Expectations

August 10, 2020

Last week’s major data releases all came in above expectations, helping to calm concerns that rising COVID-19 case counts are interrupting the economic recovery. Highlights included better-than-anticipated results for business confidence and hiring in July. This week will be another busy one, with updates focusing on inflation, retail sales, and the first look at consumer sentiment in August.

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Monday Update: Economy Contracts at Record Rate in Q2

August 3, 2020

Last week was packed with economic updates that touched on wide swaths of the economy. The first estimate of second-quarter GDP growth drew a lot of attention. It showed the economy contracted at the fastest quarterly rate on record, highlighting the devastating economic impact of anti-coronavirus measures. This will be another relatively busy week for economic updates, with a focus on business confidence and the July employment report.

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Monday Update: Initial Jobless Claims Increase

July 27, 2020

Last week was relatively slow in terms of economic updates. Notably, a disappointing jobless claims report raised concerns of a slowing economic recovery in July due to rising coronavirus case counts and a pause or rollback in reopening efforts in some states. This week will be very busy, with scheduled reports covering most important areas of the economy. Highlights include the major consumer confidence reports for July and our first look at second-quarter GDP.

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Monday Update: Retail Sales Jump for Second Month in a Row

July 20, 2020

Last week was jam-packed with economic updates, highlighted by better-than-expected industrial production and retail sales reports showing a continuing recovery as reopening efforts took hold in June. This week, the economic update front will be relatively quiet, with a focus on home sales and the weekly initial jobless claims report.

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Monday Update: Service Sector Sentiment Skyrockets

July 13, 2020

Last week was relatively quiet on the economic update front, with only three major data releases. The highlight of the week was the ISM Nonmanufacturing index, which showed that service sector confidence rebounded by far more than expected in June. This week, we’ll get numerous important updates, with a focus on consumer inflation, industrial production, retail sales, housing, and consumer confidence.

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