Investors responded favorably to Fed Chair Powell's much anticipated speech about rate cuts. The remaining question being how significant a rate cut might be.
Gerry Sparrow
129 posts
Last week’s market rally saw assists from two places: economic data and constructive Fed comments. Three critical economic data points gave investors what they were looking for: wholesale inflation, consumer prices, and retail sales.
Monday was the worst day for the S&P 500 and the Dow in nearly two years. But initial jobless claims fell less than expected—a positive sign for the labor markets— which quieted some of the recession talk. Also, as the week progressed, there was growing speculation that the July jobs report was more of an outlier than a lead indicator of a pending recession.
Two influential tech companies reported disappointing Q2 numbers, which soured sentiment. At the same time, the S&P and Nasdaq have been under pressure, with both posting losses for the second consecutive week
Fed Chair Powell indicated the Fed may not wait for inflation to reach its 2 percent target before considering a rate move, buoying the markets
The Producer Price Index, which measures the change in wholesale prices, rose 2.6 percent in June year over year—its largest increase in 16 months. By contrast, the Consumer Price Index, which tracks consumer prices, showed that the pace of inflation slowed in June. Markets shrugged off the conflicting data, instead embracing the cooler CPI data.
Stocks finished the last week of June and Q2 mixed as investors digested a fresh round of economic data
News of slower job growth, slowing wage growth, and a slight uptick in unemployment helped drive down Treasury yields, and stocks finished the short week with a strong rally
Stocks edged higher over the four trading days last week, with the three major averages taking turns leading based on various economic and artificial intelligence (AI) news
Stocks notched a solid gain last week, driven by the Fed’s decision, May's inflation report, and Apple’s AI-related news.
Stocks edged lower in the final week of May as fresh news on economic growth and inflation failed to inspire investors.
One of the handful of companies bucking the trend last week was Nvidia. The company reported that its Q1 sales tripled from a year ago.