After a roller coaster of a week in which the American stock exchange saw relatively big dips in stock prices, the market has calmed.
Reuters reported yesterday that the S&P 500 fell to a one-year low before leveling out at the end of the week. Experts say the instability in the market was due to China’s wobbly economy and an overall turbulence in the global market.
Investors have also been closely watching the Federal Reserve to find out whether the financial overseer will raise rates this September as originally planned.
Statistics show that about one in three traders believe the fed will raise rates, up about 13 percent from the previous week.
Despite the anticipation of a rate raise by the fed and mid-week stumbles, the Dow made small gains this week, as did the S&P and Nasdaq.
Though the S&P saw a 0.9 percent increase, it “remains down more than 5 percent” from the middle of the month.
The S&P remains down more than 5 percent from when the market began to sell off on August 18. The turmoil has prompted several strategists to cut their end-of-year forecasts for indexes.
That sell-off came as a result of alarming decreases in the overall health of the Chinese market, an AP article on ABC News said this past Thursday. Yet when the Chinese market saw encouraging gains this past week the U.S. stock market steadied, as did a “report indicating that the economy expanded.”
Investors were encouraged by the biggest gain in China’s main stock index in eight weeks and a U.S. government report indicating that the economy expanded at a much faster pace than previously estimated.
St. Louis Dispatch reporter Alex Veiga was a bit more candid in his observations about the week’s tumultuous journey, starting off her article Friday with this understated lede: “Well, that was exciting…”
