Quarterly Market Commentary
Fourth Quarter 2022
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary Stairway Partners is an SEC-registered Investment Advisor providing comprehensive investment advice and industry-leading portfolio management solutions. Our firm was created to provide institutions and individual investors with transparent and cost-effective stewardship of their assets. Our sophisticated investment capabilities and a steadfast commitment to the industry’s best practices…
Read MoreThird Quarter 2022
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary The third quarter of 2022 saw weak GDP growth in many countries, including the US, China, and Germany. Although growth was anemic, in most cases it was above consensus expectations. Growth in the US was enough to offset the declines in the first two quarters of the…
Read MoreSecond Quarter 2022
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary During the second quarter of 2022, higher inflation and lower real economic growth continued to worsen throughout developed and emerging countries around the world. Headline CPI inflation again hit multi-decade highs in the US, UK, Germany, and a number of other countries. In Europe and emerging market…
Read MoreFirst Quarter 2022
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary Financial markets were hit hard when Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. The war, and the Western sanctions that followed, exacerbated food and energy supply problems. As Russian energy exports were threatened with restrictions, prices jumped and already-high inflation accelerated. In the US, inflation hit 40-year highs,…
Read MoreFourth Quarter 2021
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary The big story during the fourth quarter of 2021 was the resurgence in inflation across countries worldwide. US inflation was higher than in most other countries, with some measures showing price gains at a pace not seen in nearly 40 years. There was no single category or…
Read MoreThird Quarter 2021
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary During the third quarter, both the US and the European Union saw growth of real GDP slow sharply from the second quarter’s rapid rate. The slowing of the recovery after the Covid shutdowns can be at least partially attributed to another wave of infections over the summer.…
Read MoreSecond Quarter 2021
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary US real GDP growth in the second quarter of 2021 was lower than expected, but still strong enough to return nominal GDP to its pre-Covid level. Healthy growth in personal consumption expenditures was offset somewhat by a decline in investment spending. The Covid and lockdown induced recession…
Read MoreFirst Quarter 2021
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary The first quarter of 2021 marked one year since the COVID-induced lockdowns from last March. In the US, first quarter economic growth continued its recovery from the sharp declines of the first half of 2020. Personal consumption expenditures were buoyed by the massive stimulus payments to individuals,…
Read MoreFourth Quarter 2020
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary Resurgent Covid-19 infections led to another round of lockdowns in a number of locations, including parts of Europe and the UK. This weighed on economic activity and raised the specter of a second recession. China bucked this trend by reporting relatively strong fourth quarter GDP growth. In…
Read MoreThird Quarter 2020
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary After the sharpest downturn on record in this year’s second quarter, the US economy rebounded fairly strongly in the third quarter. Despite the rapid growth in GDP during the third quarter, output was still 3.5% below its peak level in the fourth quarter of 2019. Because the…
Read MoreSecond Quarter 2020
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary In our first quarter Market & Economic Perspective piece, we stated that the economic impact of the coronavirus would not be seen until the second quarter. Now that much of the data are available, we saw that the US suffered the swiftest start to a recession ever,…
Read MoreFirst Quarter 2020
Global Market and Economic Perspective Global Economic Commentary Although the Coronavirus (COVID-19) began in China in late 2019, its rapid spread and the resulting government lock-down measures to combat the virus did not materially affect the global economy until the end of the first quarter. The true economic impact of COVID-19 will not be seen…
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