The Price of Victory!
ROBARE & JONES ON THE MARKETS
The S&P 500 rose 2% this week, wiping out last week's decline and sending the market benchmark to fresh record highs.
The index dropped on Monday with increasing concerns about the rise in COVID-19 cases amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus. Markets recouped and are now up 2.7% so far this month; 17% in 2021.
The communication services sector posted the largest gain this week, up 3.2%, followed by a 2.9% increase in consumer discretionary and a 2.8% rise in technology. Just two sectors were in the red for the week: utilities, down 0.9%, and energy, down 0.4%.
Economic reports next week include July consumer confidence on Tuesday and June consumer spending and core inflation on Friday.
Let's take a look at the markets!
The Price of Victory!
The current medal format – awarding gold, silver and bronze medals to the top finishers in each event – was introduced during the 1904 Olympics. For a few years, around that time, the medals were made of gold, silver and bronze, but that’s no longer the case. The medals awarded at the Tokyo Games are composed of a variety of metals.
- Olympic gold. The gold medal contains 550 grams of silver ($490) covered in 6 grams of gold plating ($380). That puts its monetary value at about $870.
- Olympic silver. The silver medal is made of pure silver. At the 2020 Olympics, the medal weighs in at about 550 grams, and its value is about $490.
- Olympic bronze. The bronze medal is comprised of 450 grams – almost a pound – of red brass. Red brass is 95 percent copper and 3 percent zinc, and is valued at about $2.40 a pound. The medal’s monetary value is about $2.40.
Of course, the real answer to the question about the value of Olympic medals is that they are priceless. The achievement they represent – becoming one of the world’s best athletes in a sport – has a value that cannot be measured in dollars and cents.
What Olympic events will you be watching?
