The holiday week had little reprieve for global markets rattling toward a close of December and the year. A week into the partial U.S. government shutdown is expected to continue until the New Year where there will be additional voting on the matter. Contention remains over the issue of adding border-wall funding to a short-term spending bill. Additionally concerns of a global slowdown still loom, consumer confidence in the U.S. fell for a second month in a row, and eyes will be on salient data next week to paint a better economic picture around the volatility in markets. Japan’s Nikkei index fell on its final trading day, leading to its first annual loss in seven years, a 12.1% decline in total.

Domestic equity markets had their first positive weekly finish in four after posting a shocking recovery the day after the Christmas holiday. The Dow had its largest point gain in history (1,086 points) following the worst Christmas Eve on record. A 19 time directional shift in Friday’s activity ended with these stocks going lower the final trading day of the week; with one more day until the New Year, the long time bull market is nearing an end with stocks in the red across the spectrum YTD. Treasury yields went lower pushing fixed income returns higher, but they closed with a slight inversion between the one and two year maturities.

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