This week was consumed by earnings announcements, politics, the release of second quarter gross domestic product (GDP), and the expiration of the extended federal unemployment benefit. If you’ve been following the news, you’re probably as exhausted as I am.

The markets moved sideways this week as earnings announcements took center stage. As with the first quarter, investors are more focused on management expectations and forward guidance.

Given the current turn of events, it was a pretty good week for the stock market.

The market struggled to gain traction this week in the face of growing concerns over the rise in confirmed cases of COVID-19.

As far as quarters go, this one was for the record books. Whereas we experienced a significant drop in the first quarter of the year, we gained much of that back in the second quarter.

In another choppy week, investors put some chips on the table only to take them off later.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. The context may be a little different, but this line spoken by Al Pacino in The Godfather came to mind as I considered this week.

In recent weeks, the news centered around reopening the economy and the expectation a vaccine may come as soon as the end of this year.

With the economy reopening, and the anticipated economic recovery beginning to appear, it is no surprise that the market keeps heading higher.

The markets made the most of a short trading week. In fact, investors came back on Tuesday in a pretty good mood and helped push the indexes higher.