The anticipated relief rally in equities after the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death never really materialized, and markets slid lower last week on poor economic news.
A much better-than-expected jobs number on Friday gave equity markets a boost, but it was not enough to offset weakness from earlier in the week. Read more in this week’s Market Summary (PDF, new window)
For the first time ever, the chairman of the Federal Reserve spoke last week to a national audience regarding the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) monetary policy.
Equity markets shrugged off the press conference as a nonevent, but they did move sharply higher on strong earnings results. 2011 estimates for the S&P 500 have been slowly creeping toward $100 per share.
Read more in our Weekly Market Summary. (PDF, new window)
The 10-year Treasury ended the week where it started, close to its 3.40-percent support level. The negative outlook for the U.S. government issued by Standard & Poor’s had less impact than expected, as the larger part of the curve was little changed from the previous week. Read more in this week’s Market Summary (PDF, new window).
Treasuries continued their recent selloff, as the 10-year pushed up to 3.45 percent late last week. The 2-year was up to 0.782 percent, and the 30-year moved to 4.50 percent.
Equities gained ground for a second week due to stronger macroeconomic news. Many indices have been sitting at or near 52-week highs.
Equity markets dropped again last week, driven lower by escalating tensions in Libya and the devastating impact of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Read the complete market summary.
Equity markets declined across the board last week. They were led lower by cyclical stocks and international markets.
Tensions across Africa and the Middle East, oil’s rising cost—to more than $106 per barrel—and questions about inflation and potential policy changes at central banks around the world weighed on investors’ minds. Read more in this week’s Market Summary (PDF, new window).
Equity markets managed to eke out small gains last week, despite a jump in volatility.
Tensions and violence continued to escalate in Africa and the Middle East. The threat of contagion across the region to larger oil-producing nations, such as Saudi Arabia, has pushed crude oil prices well above $100 per barrel and has many investors seeking to reduce this risk from their portfolios.
Read more in this week’s Market Summary. (PDF, new window)
Investment-grade corporate spreads continued to tighten last week, hitting a new 3-month low. Weekly high-yield bond performance was consistent with previous periods; the market returned 57 bps (0.57 percent). Read more in our Weekly Market Update (PDF, new window)
Treasuries were mixed last week, starting a little higher; rallying midweek with the State of the union address, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcement, and the strong 2-year Treasury auction; and selling off late in the week. Read more now (PDF, new window).
