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The Weekly Update

Week of April 8th, 2024
By Christopher T. Much, CFP®, AIF®

Stocks dropped last week as investors focused on “what’s next” for interest rates after mixed comments from multiple Fed officials.

Fed Officials Weigh In
Stocks struggled out of the gate again last week, ending Monday and Tuesday in the red on concerns that recent economic data could derail the Fed’s plan for short-term rates.

The markets recovered Wednesday through Thursday morning when weekly jobless claims were better than expected. But stocks fell broadly Thursday afternoon following mixed comments from multiple Fed officials. All three averages ended the day down more than 1 percent for the first time in a month.

On Friday, a strong jobs report gave investors much-needed confidence. The U.S. economy created 303,000 jobs in March—higher than economists’ expectations—while unemployment dropped slightly to 3.8 percent. Markets rallied after the news, but not enough to recoup all weekly losses.

What’s The …

The Weekly Update

Week of April 1st, 2024
By Christopher T. Much, CFP®, AIF®

Stocks were narrowly higher for the week as investors digested mixed economic news about consumer confidence. All three of the major averages posted gains for Q1 2024.

Stocks Finish Strong
Markets slipped for the first half of the four-day week as investors took a breather after the prior week’s gain. Conflicting economic news on Monday and Tuesday contributed to the slide. New home sales in February slipped 0.3 percent over the prior month but increased by 5.9 percent from the prior year. Durable goods orders—everything from washing machines to helicopters—rebounded 1.4 percent in February, beating expectations and recouping some of January’s 6.9 percent drop.

Stocks rallied on Wednesday, including a fresh record close for the Standard & Poor’s 500. An upward revision to consumer sentiment on Thursday helped the rally along. The markets are closed on Friday when the much-anticipated …

The Weekly Update

Week of March 25th, 2024
By Christopher T. Much, CFP®, AIF®

Stocks posted their best week of the year, sparked by news that the dovish Fed decided to keep rates steady and signaled three rate cuts were still possible this year.

Stocks Bounce Back
As widely expected, the Fed left rates unchanged at the conclusion of its two-day meeting. But somewhat less expected, the Fed signaled its inclination to cut interest rates three times this year—each time by a quarter percentage point. That was a positive surprise for some, who worried that recent hot inflation reports would cause the Fed to reconsider its stance.

Markets pushed higher on Wednesday following the news, with all three averages closing at record highs. The rally continued through Thursday, boosted further by news that existing home sales rose 9.5 percent in February.

The week’s rally was broad-based overall, with 10 of the 11 S&P 500 sectors …

The Weekly Update

Week of March 18th, 2024
By Christopher T. Much, CFP®, AIF®

Stocks fell for the second straight week on inflation concerns despite a report on consumer prices that was initially well received by investors.

Stocks Slide
Tuesday was the only bright spot during the week as stock prices rose after the Labor Department report showed the Consumer Price Index rose 3.2% in February compared with a year earlier. It was a bit warmer than economists expected but cooler than investors feared. The news sparked a day-long rally, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index setting its 17th record high of the year.

Following Tuesday, caution lingered as investors parsed the underlying data behind headline consumer inflation numbers. Thursday’s fresh producer price index (PPI) report showed that wholesale prices increased by 0.6% in February, more than the expected 0.3% increase. Additionally, core PPI (excluding food and energy) was hotter than expected.

Retail …

The Weekly Update

Week of March 11th, 2024
By Christopher T. Much, CFP®, AIF®

Stocks were down for the week as investors appeared to take some profits and traders parsed Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Congressional testimony.

Markets Wobble
Stocks had a rough start to the week, with the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq each off more than one percent on Tuesday alone. Mega-cap tech stocks were under pressure as investors appeared to take some profits.

Markets clawed back much of their losses on Wednesday and Thursday, with the Fed Chair’s upbeat comments to the Senate Banking Committee boosting stocks. Chair Powell said that once the Fed was confident inflation was tracking “sustainably at 2%,” the Fed would consider cutting short-term interest rates. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rallied, with the S&P hitting a record close.

Friday’s employment news threw some uncertainty into the mix. The economy added 275,000 jobs in February—exceeding the 198,000 expected—but wage …

The Weekly Update

Week of March 4th, 2024
By Christopher T. Much, CFP®, AIF®

Stocks extended their tech-led advance last week as signs of a resilient and still-enthusiastic consumer boosted momentum.

Nasdaq Sets New High
Stocks traded in a narrow band early in the week but ended the five-trading sessions with a powerful advance.

While the Dow dipped lower, artificial intelligence (AI) names powered the gains in the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite. The Nasdaq bobbed around the 16,000 level for most of the week before posting consecutive record highs on Thursday and Friday, surpassing its 2021 record. It was the last of the three major stock benchmarks to reach a record high this year.

Economic news also helped boost markets. The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 0.3 percent in January versus December—and 2.4 percent on a 12-month basis. Both were in line with expectations. Stocks ticked up …