There was an onslaught of data last week, which led to gains. Should more be expected with the coming earnings season?
Monday S&P 500 0.27%| NASDAQ 1.09%
ISM Manufacturing unexpectedly slipped and remains in contractionary territory. The weaker economic data would typically signal lower rates as rate cut expectations would increase. To the contrary, 10-year treasuries rose on the day. In the face of weak economic data, the start of the quarter brought optimism towards the next three months.
Tuesday S&P 500 0.62% | NASDAQ .84%
JOLTs job openings rose more than expected to 8.14M openings. For perspective, there were 6.6M unemployed as of the May report. The strong jobs data did not deter markets, though; this may be because the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) Chair, J. Powell, spoke on the day. He indicated that progress is being made towards their inflation target. This is the ‘secret sauce’ needed to justify future rate cuts.
Wednesday S&P 500 0.51% | NASDAQ 0.88%
Initial jobless claims rose for the week to 238K from 234K; the level remains elevated, albeit from all-time lows. Factory orders unexpectedly slipped into the negative on the month. Additionally, ISM Services unexpectedly slipped into contractionary territory. This is all bad news for economic production, so why did the markets rise? Interest rates fell as this data increases the likelihood that the FRB will lower rates sooner than expected. The heightened odds are now calling for a .25% cut in September and December, according to CME FedWatch.
Thursday S&P 500 -% | NASDAQ -%
Happy Independence Day!
Friday S&P 500 0.54% | NASDAQ 0.90%
Happy Jobs Friday! The unemployment rate rose to 4.1%, Nonfarm payrolls beat expectations, and participation rose to 62.6% from 62.5%, all for June. The unemployment rate went up even though we added 206K jobs??? Participation went up so, with more people in the market, the rate can go up even as jobs are added. This is a positive signal that workers are returning to the work force. The rise on equity markets, however, was on hopes that economic weakness would be enough for an FRB rate cut.
Conclusion S&P 500 1.95% | NASDAQ 3.55%
This was a busy week for economic data, especially for a holiday shortened week. We got weaker Jobs, manufacturing, Services, and Factory orders. The weakness led to stronger markets on hopes the FRB will cut rates BEFORE a recession can materialize. The coming week starts second quarter earnings. Valuations are stretched (S&P 500 P/E: 28.94) and economic production is weak, very little should be expected from this season. This could be the start of volatility that would lead into the Autumn.
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The bears are asserting themselves right now. Will the bulls be back this week to fend off the Bearish trend?
Monday
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
Tuesday
Markets opened the week as they had the prior week. Volatility was up and markets were down early! One concern was the potential for flight disruptions as wireless carrier giants roll out 5G near airports. The use of 5G has companies utilizing airwaves that had previously not been used. The concern being that they could provide potential interference for airlines.
Wednesday
The S&P 500 opened higher on Wednesday, but quickly faded into the red. At the open, equities were higher and fixed income was higher as well. Typically buying in fixed income is viewed as a defensive move. The equity sell-off that occurred into the close did not get accompanied by a sell-off in fixed income. Those continued to gain. This is a signal of perhaps a more bearish trend to come. The S&P 500 ended up losing 0.97% on the day. The NASDAQ, which lost 1.15% on the day, entered technical correction territory (being down more than 10% from it’s high). The S&P 500 is off 5.5% from it’s high on January 3rd.
Thursday
Markets opening strongly in the green. The S&P 500 was up more than 1.5% early on. Markets began to fade around 12:30PM EST and never looked back. The S&P 500 ended up falling 1.19% and the NASDAQ led the way, down 1.39%. Most of the losses came in the final hour of trading.
Friday
Movement within markets continued into the red on Friday, simply reinforcing the action from the entire week. Interest rates at the 10-year level fell. This is a more traditional reaction to an equity sell-off. The S&P 500 ended up dropping another 1.89%. The Nasdaq continued to lead the way, being down 2.72%.
Conclusion
The S&P 500 lost 5.68% last week and is down 8.31% from its January 3rd closing high. The Nasdaq 100, which has more growth focused positions, lost 7.49% last week and 12.88% from its November high. The controlled nature of this sell-off tends to reflect a more measured corrective environment. With the Federal Reserve Board meeting next week, all eyes will be on interest rates!
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Always remember that while this is a week in review, this does not trigger or relate to trading activity on your account with Financial Future Services. Broad diversification across several asset classes with a long-term holding strategy is the best strategy in any market environment.
Any and all third-party posts or responses to this blog do not reflect the views of the firm and have not been reviewed by the firm for completeness or accuracy.