Economic Market Summary

Market Down and Dirty

Last Week’s Economic/Market Summary

 Data 

  • U.S. equity indices bounced back last week and ended positive across the board.
    • S&P 500 +1.24% Dow +0.15%, Russell 2000 +4.15%, Nasdaq +3.12%
      • The All-Country World Index gained 2.27%. 
    • S&P 500 sub-sectors were mostly positive last week.
      • Technology & Consumer Discretionary led to the upside. 
      • Consumer Staples & Utilities were negative on the week. 
    • The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) sank over 10% to end at 17.92. 
  • US Treasury bond yields moved slightly higher last week.
    • US 2yr +0.02% at 1.56%, 10yr +0.03% at 1.95%, 30yr +0.02% to 2.27%.1 
    • The recent drop in the S&P 500 hasn’t brought the decrease in yields like in history. 
  • Commodities as an aggregate asset class were mixed last week during extreme volatility.
    • WTI Crude gained 0.78% after touching $100/barrel during the week. 1 
    • Gold declined 0.90% after spiking to $1,976 per ounce on Thursday. 1 
    • The US Dollar index rose 0.47%.1 
  • In our opinion, U.S. economic data was mixed last week.
    • The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation rose 5.2% since last year; its highest reading since ‘83. 1 
    • Consumer spending came in higher than expected despite higher prices. 1 
    • Rising mortgage rates & high prices continued to bring down measures of housing. 1 
  • An index of equities outside the US (FTSE All-World ex-US) declined 1.43%.1 

Conclusion 

  • Major stock indices finished the holiday shortened trading week in positive ground.
    • Equities shook off a rough start to bounce higher on low volume and little economic news. 
      • Growth oriented areas of the market led to the upside by a wide margin. 
    • After briefly breaking through the lower end of the almost year-long trading range, small-caps bounced back above this critical level and finished the week up over 3%. 
  • S&P 500 subsectors were mostly positive last week.
    • Tech & Consumer Discretionary were the best performers as mega-cap growth names led the broad market indices higher once again. 
    • Interesting to note that the so called “reflation trade” sectors of industrials, materials, & financials haven’t led as the broad markets have bounced back higher. 
      • This is despite various inflation measures continuing to come in at high levels. 
      • In our opinion, we believe this could be the market adjusting to inflation taming in the coming months and/or economic growth continuing to slow. 
  • Participation moved up slightly last week after the low point on Monday.
    • At the end of the week, 43% of issues traded on the New York Stock Exchange were above their respective 50 day moving average. 
    • This measure was in the low 20’s to begin the week. 
    • We continue to watch this reading as an input to the overall health of the markets. 
  • The Chinese Communist Party stimulated their economy for the first time since April of 2020 last week.
    • Their central bank cut a benchmark lending rate to combat a slowing economy. 
    • This coincided with the World Bank lowering growth estimates for the Chinese economy. 
  • Goldman Sachs cut their estimates for growth in the US economy in 2022.
    • This was in response to a lack of further fiscal spending as the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan lost key support. 
    • In our opinion, this was a tailwind for the equity markets and without it, new catalysts will need to emerge to drive them higher. 
  • As 2021 comes to an end, the economic calendar is light and trading volumes will most likely be exceptionally light this week.
    • We caution too much focus on anything that transpires this week as it’s likely to be more noise than substantive. 
    • However, volatility could creep into the markets as liquidity is tight with so many firms & traders shut down for the week. 

Ryan A. Mumy, CFP®,
AIF® – Chief Investment Officer

Contact: 828/855-9400
info@CIASonline.com or rmumy@bloomberg.net 

 1 Source: Bloomberg – 2/25/2022

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