Markets Take a Breather After Mixed Week
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 …
Tech And AI Lead Another Advancing Week
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 …
