Weekly Market Commentary – 8/13/2021
-Darren Leavitt, CFA
The S&P 500 and the Dow inked new all-time highs as the Financials, Materials, and Consumer Staples did well over the week. Energy and Small Caps lagged. The Senate passed the 1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure plan and approved $3.5 trillion in additional spending. The Bill now goes to the house where nine democrats have pushed back on the $3.5 trillion in additional spending.
For the week, the S&P 500 was higher by0.7%, the Dow added 0.9%, the NASDAQ declined by 0.1%, and the Russell 2000 shed 1.1%. The 2-year note yield tacked on two basis points to 0.22%, while the 10-year bond yield increased by one basis point to close at 1.30%. Oil prices continued to fall on growth concerns. WTI lost $0.47, closing at $67.81 a barrel. Gold prices increased $16.40 to $1779.90 an Oz.
Economic data was generally in line with the consensus estimates. The Consumer Price index came in at 0.5% versus the forecast of 0.6%. Core CPI came in at 0.3% versus the estimate of 0.5%. The Producers Price index increased 1% versus the estimate of 0.6% while the Core CPI increased by 1%. Initial Jobless claims came in line at 375k while Continuing Claims fell to 2.866 million. The big surprise in data this week was in the preliminary University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment, which fell to 70.2 from 81.2.
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