Trade developments continue to make their way out of the domestic administration. President Trump announced more tariffs on over 5,000 products from China but initially at a 10% rate, to climb to 25% Jan. 1, 2019. This came as a relief to investors thinking it would be 25% off the bat; high tech products from Apple and Fitbit were spared from the list. China retaliated stating it would impose duties on $60 billion of goods – these retaliatory measures are supposed to take effect on Monday the 24th. Japan Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, was re-elected as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party – assuring him of a third term as Prime Minister.

Quadruple witching, an event when futures and options expire on both indexes and individual stocks, combined with the largest Global Industry Classification Standards revision since 1999 both led to higher than average trading volume on Friday. The U.S. large company stock index edged higher for a second week after reaching an all time high on Thursday, but small company counterparts ended the week lower. Treasury yields increased on market participants expecting the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee to raise interest rates for the third time this year at next weeks meeting. The 10-year Treasury breached 3%, the highest level this quarter.

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