This Weekly Financial Markets Update reviews the top market headlines: U.S. Treasury Doubles Bond Buybacks, Fed Minutes Indicate Support for Rate Hikes, Weakness in New Residential Construction
  • The 30-year Treasury bond yield reached 5.34% last week
  • The current federal funds rate target range is 3.50% to 3.75%
  • Housing starts fell 13.5% in July versus last year

Top Three Market Headlines

U.S. Treasury Doubles Bond Buybacks: The U.S. Treasury Department announced last week it will increase its buybacks of longer-dated Treasury bonds with maturities longer than 10 years. The purchases will be funded by greater issuance of shorter-term Treasury securities beginning in September. The move, which the Treasury said is intended to support liquidity in longer-dated bonds, came after the 30-year Treasury bond yield hit a 19-year high earlier in the week. Treasury bond yields initially fell after news of the policy shift, but rebounded in subsequent days to finish higher on the week.

Fed Minutes Indicate Support for Rate Hikes: Last week saw the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting in late July, providing insight on the central bank's latest deliberations on interest rate policy. While the Fed's policy committee formally approved holding the benchmark federal funds rate target range steady at 3.50% to 3.75% for the fifth straight time, three of the committee's 12 voting members dissented, instead favoring a rate increase. Moreover, the minutes revealed some officials noting that raising rates might yet be necessary to push inflation down to the Fed's official target of 2%.

Weakness in New Residential Construction: The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced last week that the rate of housing starts in the U.S. in July was 1,239,000 on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. This was 12.4% below June's pace and 13.5% below July 2025. This this was also the second-lowest figure (after May of this year) since the middle of the COVID pandemic in 2020. Weak building rates in July were seen in both single-family units and apartment buildings, which were down 15.7% and 7.1%, respectively, versus last year. Overall, the data shows that builder sentiment remains weak amid high mortgage rates and rising construction costs.

As of August 21, 2026 Week Quarter-To-Date Year-To-Date One-Year
MSCI All Country World -0.88% 2.78% 14.35% 23.58%
S&P 500 -1.39% 2.48% 12.95% 21.90%
Russell 2000 -1.60% -0.08% 22.48% 34.34%
MSCI EAFE -0.54% 4.29% 14.14% 21.72%
MSCI Emerging Markets 1.24% 0.30% 24.22% 38.90%
FTSE NAREIT Equity -0.37% 1.29% 19.35% 21.98%
Bloomberg Commodity 3.84% 14.65% 31.11% 44.37%
Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate -0.10% -0.96% -0.34% 2.48%

Treasury 8/19/2026, Federal Reserve 8/19/2026, WSJ 8/18/2026, 8/19/2026, & 8/20/2026, US Census Bureau 8/18/2026. Index returns from Morningstar Direct. Returns for periods greater than one year are annualized. Investment advisory services are offered by Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors, LLC ("GFA"), an SEC registered investment advisor that provides retirement, investment advisory, discretionary and independent fiduciary services. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply any specific level of skill or training and does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the SEC. GFA is a limited liability company with Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. as its single member. GFA may pay referral fees or other remuneration to employees of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. or its affiliates or to independent contractors; such payments do not change our fee. Neither Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., GFA, their affiliates nor representatives provide accounting, legal or tax advice. GFA does not express an investment opinion regarding any specific commodity, sector or individual security. Unless otherwise expressly noted, the contents of this communication do not constitute securities or investment advice, nor should this communication be construed as an opinion regarding the appropriateness of any investment. The information provided cannot take into account all the various factors that may affect your particular situation, therefore you should consult your GFA consultant before acting upon any information or recommendation contained herein to discuss the ability of the information/recommendation for your specific situation.