Weekly Market Update

After four days of back-and-forth trading to start the week, equities decidedly moved to rally mode after the eurozone agreement. The S&P 500 Index gained 2.08 percent for the week. Strength in the financials sector helped boost value over growth, and small-cap stocks outperformed large-cap peers. Read more now in our Weekly Market Summary.

The Federal Reserve announced the extension of Operation Twist at last Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The program, which was set to end on June 30, was increased by $267 billion and will extend through the end of 2012. The next FOMC meeting is Aug. 1. Read more now.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury was down to 1.52 percent early Monday morning on speculation that Spain will need a global
bailout, along with continued uncertainty in the aftermath of the Greek elections. The 10-year had retreated to 1.66 percent after
reaching an historical low of 1.43 percent on June 1.

Meanwhile, after a very measured pullback that started several weeks ago, domestic equities shrugged off the European news and marched higher last week. The S&P 500 Index was up 1.34 percent. Read more now.

Equity markets staged a strong rally last week, with the S&P 500 gaining 3.77 percent. A lack of bad news out of Europe, a pleasantly surprising Beige Book release from the Federal Reserve, and stimulus measures out of China all contributed to the bullish mood. Read more now.

The flight-to-safety trade late last week pushed perceived global safety assets to new record lows. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield reached a new intraday historical low of 1.45 percent on Friday, while the 30-year Treasury also reached a new low of 2.52 percent. Read more now in this week’s Market Summary.

Domestic equity markets staged a rebound last week on improving investor optimism. The S&P 500 rose 1.77 percent, but the small-cap Russell 2000 Index was the big winner with a gain of 2.59 percent. The MSCI EAFE and Emerging Markets indices, however, both lost ground. Read more now.

Treasuries were strong again last week, and the yield on the 10-year reached 1.69 percentduring intraday trading on Thursday. Yields were back to 1.75 percent early Monday morning, as the Treasury looks to sell as much as $99 billion in 2-year, 5-year, and 7-year maturities this week. Read more now.

The U.S. Treasury sold 10-year and 30-year bonds last week, and both saw strong demand at auction. The yield on the 10-year was as low as 1.78 percent early Monday morning, and the 30-year yield was below 3 percent for the first time since January. Read more now.

Treasuries started last week on a strong note, and the yield on the 10-year was pushed to 1.87 percent for the first time since early February. The only other time we’ve experienced yields this low was for a few days in September 2011 and December 2011. Meanwhile, the yield on the 30-year Treasury once again approached 3 percent. Read more now.

Treasuries are on pace for their largest monthly gain since September, as the yield on the 10-year moved down to 1.92 percent, its lowest level since Feb. 2. This strong performance has come on the heels of weaker economic data domestically and growing concerns about Spain’s debt situation. Read more now.