Jerome Powell has been nominated to succeed Janet Yellen as Federal Reserve Board Chair by President Trump this week. Powell is expected to keep monetary policy steadily in line with Yellen while rolling back some post financial crisis banking reform. During the FOMC November policy meeting, interest rates remained unchanged for the U.S.; however the Bank of England hiked its key interest rate 0.25% for the first time in over a decade. Unemployment data for October was reasonable with added jobs in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma and an unemployment rate at the lowest level since 2001.

U.S. large company stocks continued their ascent to an all time high this week as they close the gap to a 9-year bull market, but small company stocks did not fare nearly as well for the week and continue to trail in 2017. International developed country socks added at a greater level than domestic large cap stocks. Interest rates declined slightly during the week creating gains across fixed income investments. Local emerging market bonds however were thrown off from an announcement by Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, that the country will seek to restructure its outstanding debt. Venezuelan bonds maturing in one year traded at roughly 40 cents on the dollar following the news.

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