Last week saw a number of important economic data releases, with December’s business confidence and employment reports garnering the most attention. Business confidence unexpectedly improved during the month, although the economy suffered from a net loss of jobs for the first time since April. This week will be packed with updates, with a focus on December’s inflation and retail sales reports, as well as the first look at consumer confidence in January.

Today, I'd like to provide an update on the coronavirus, including the economic and market implications. On the medical front, holiday travel effects have kept infection growth at high levels, and positive results also moved to new highs. Still, we should see vaccinations ramp up by the end of the month, and we could approach herd immunity as soon as June.

As expected, we saw a pullback in many coronavirus indicators over the Christmas holidays. But also as expected, the data has bounced back, indicating that the drop was due to slower reporting rather than an actual decline in cases. Looking forward, we still have another couple of weeks where infections due to holiday travel will show up in the data, and there are signs that is starting to occur. The next two weeks are likely to show continued case growth. While some sections of the country are showing improvements, we are not through this wave yet.

Today should be the day we see Washington start to turn blue. With the Congress meeting to count the inaugural votes and with the Georgia Senate runoff likely to show both seats won by Democrats, all three arms of government will be under control of the Democratic Party come the inauguration.

At the start of a new year, it makes sense to look back and see where we were, before looking ahead to where we are going. This year, doing this is especially important, given the significant changes we saw in December. But we start January in a very different place—a place with better news, better prospects, and lower risks.

December was a great month for the markets, with gains across the board. Unfortunately, we saw rising economic damage. Job growth dropped, and layoffs rose. Consumer confidence and spending also declined as the medical risks drove governmental shutdowns. Still, business confidence and spending were solid, and December's federal stimulus bill should help revive consumer demand.

Last week was quiet on the economic update front, with the weekly initial jobless claims report serving as the only major data release. The number of initial unemployment claims fell by more than expected, but the Christmas holiday may have led to some volatility in the reporting. This week will be a busier one for updates, with a look at December’s business confidence and employment reports serving as potential highlights.

As expected, we have seen a pullback in many pandemic indicators over the Christmas holidays. We are also, again as expected, starting to see the data bounce back, indicating the drop was more due to slower reporting than an actual decline in cases. Looking forward, holiday travel may well give us another surge, so take the current better news with a grain of salt. While a peak is coming, we are not through this wave yet, despite encouraging signs from the Midwest.

Today's first post is from Giovanna Zaffina, wealth management platform manager, and Anu Gaggar, senior investment research analyst.

Today’s post is from Peter Roberto, investment research analyst on our Investment Management and Research team.