We're following the market and industry news to provide information relevant to your investments. (Updated daily after market close.)

• Equity markets finished modestly lower on Friday, as stocks took a breather following three straight days of gains. Renewed COVID-19 worries weighed on investor sentiment heading into the weekend, driving a more defensive tone in today's trading, with consumer staples, communication services, and utilities stocks among the leaders, while the energy and materials sectors lagged. Bond prices firmed slightly, pushing the benchmark 10-year yield back below 1.10%.
• Concerns over an emerging new strain of the virus, along with vaccine distribution challenges, weighed on the near-term economic outlook. Potential new lockdowns in Europe and a stalling pace of improvement in the domestic labor market are headwinds to U.S. and global GDP growth – a view that showed up in the stock market's performance today. We think the market's broader direction will be led by better momentum in the economic rebound later this year, but the current conditions of the ongoing pandemic highlight the challenges that may spark temporary bouts of volatility.
• U.S. large-cap and small-cap stocks touched new highs again this past week, so down days should be viewed as an appropriate, if not necessary, breather given the market's recent sprint higher. Politics and policy will remain in the headlines, with stocks balancing additional stimulus from Washington against proposals for items such as higher corporate taxes and an increased minimum wage, which could have an impact on corporate profits. The 14% gain in the stock market between Election Day and Inauguration Day is a reminder, however, that while political uncertainties can and will influence financial markets, we believe equities will take their broader direction from the outlook for economic and earnings growth, an outlook that we think remains favorable.