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The Major Markets broke their losing streak with gains in all five indices. The Nasdaq held the greatest gains as it exceeded 2.5%, but even the lowest performer saw a gain of 1.66% in the Emerging Market space. For the S&P 500, nearly two percentage point gain was a welcome break to the three consecutive weeks of losses. At the end of last week, the Nasdaq recovered a significant amount of lost ground from last year with a year to date return of 11.68%. This stands as nearly double the next best, year to date gain in the MSCI World Index which held a 5.97% return. From a technical perspective, while many had been concerned about whether or not the S&P 500 would stay above the 4,000 level, technical analysts were more focused on how the index would trade around the 50 and 200-day moving averages. The S&P 500 fell back below the 50-day moving average at the close of February after breaking through and staying mostly above this moving average since mid-January. However, he index managed to remain above the 200-day moving average on a closing basis last week. From an economic perspective, last week was filled with many economic reports that held mixed outlooks for the markets. The week kicked off with the results of the Durable Goods Orders which fell below estimates for January. Meanwhile, pending home sales greatly exceeded estimates, as the headline reading came back with an 8.1% increase month over month when home-buyers jumped at the chance to lock in rates at a slightly softer level in January. The data from National Association of Realtors reflected the largest monthly increase since June of 2020. At Leap Wealth, we are here to help our clients manage through all the highs and lows. Contact us today to learn more.

The selling took hold last week with all five indices of the major markets closing lower. Despite this being a holiday shortened trading week, the S&P 500 logged the greatest weekly losses year to date and the third consecutive loss at that. Overall, economic concerns weighed on the markets regardless of the market segment. At the sector level, only energy managed to close higher with a very slight increase of 17 bps. Meanwhile, Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services experienced the greatest losses with Real Estate not too far behind. The trading week began Tuesday with the US Services and Manufacturing PMIs, which both increased month over month as inflation concerns subsided. The federal reserve did increase interest rates by 25 basis points from 4.5 to 4.75%. The CME Group has projected the greater probability of additional 25 basis point increases in the future meetings, comments like these have shifted the longer-term rate expectations. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool now reflects a likely peak of interest rates at 5.25 to 5.5% by June and the highest probability of staying at or near that level throughout the end of 2023. This shift in overall sentiment pulled on the bond market. Interest rates climbed higher once again on the shorter to intermediate durations while the longest duration remained relatively unchanged but further inverted. As a result, bond markets dropped. The Bloomberg Barclays Aggregate bond index fell nearly a percentage point, giving back nearly all the YTD gains. At Leap Wealth, we are here to help our clients manage through all the highs and lows. Contact us today to learn more.

The Major Markets closed the week mixed with only the Nasdaq closing higher. The S&P 500 opened initially higher Monday as the market was poised to stage a comeback after the prior week’s losses. Yet Monday’s gains didn’t mark a trend for the week but rather more of a ceiling. Tuesday experienced a slight decline after trading higher shortly after the open only to break back below Monday’s open and end virtually flat. The day was marked with the release of the Consumer Price Index Results for January. The 6.4% year-over-year headline was cooler than December but hotter than the forecast of 6.2%. This was still an improvement in the inflation rate as it marked the lowest headline reading since October of 2021. Ahead of Wednesday’s open, the January Retail Sales report reflected a monthly increase of 3%, significantly higher than the 1.9% expected. Investors wrestled with this information, concerned about what these back-to-back inflation-related reports might mean for the Fed’s plan with Interest rates. Wednesday opened lower but managed to hold the highest close for the week. Thursday’s Producer Price Index report and Weekly Initial Jobless Claims report still showed a market that was expanding while the drop in the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey saw a significant fall. Furthermore, the reading of -24.3 stood as the lowest reading since the Covid induced drop in 2020. This gave concerns about the prospect of stagflation. Treasuries responded with the yield curve rising higher overall with additional steepening at the shorter durations. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you www.leapwealth.com

The Major Markets ended the week lower with losses in all five indices. The Nasdaq saw the greatest losses as the Tech index felt the pain of a loss in conviction to the buy side of the market last week. For the S&P 500, the market opened soft with the market trading largely sideways after the initial open with no economic reports or material headlines to significantly steer the direction of the markets. On Tuesday, the markets opened slightly lower once again, but the day was marked by comments from Jerome Powell “The reality is if we continue to get strong labor market reports or higher inflation reports, it might be the case that we have to raise rates more" This was referencing the prior week’s January Payrolls report which significantly beat estimates with a reading of 517,000 new jobs compared to the 187,000 expected. Ultimately, the initial spike and sell-off resolved into a late day surge into the highs at the close. Yet, as the week wore on, the selling resumed, and the weekly gains proved to be short-lived as the S&P 500 traded lower Wednesday and Thursday with minor gains Friday. For treasuries, the week’s activity saw the yield curve rise higher with higher yields in each of the various durations. This pulled on the bond indices. For the Bloomberg Barclays Us Aggregate Bond index, this signified another loss of 1.43% for the week. At Leap Wealth, we are here to help our clients manage through all the highs and lows. Contact us today to learn more.