March 2 – March 6 Week in review
It was a wild week on Wall St last week as the S&P 500 index rose 0.6%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite ticked up 0.1%.
The week’s final results don’t really tell the story. Monday the S&P 500 index gained 4.6% as the market rebounded from the previous week’s decline. Tuesday it dropped 2.8% after the Fed’s surprise rate cut. Wednesday it rose 4.2% after Joe Biden’s strong Super Tuesday showing, and then dropped 3.4% on Thursday as coronavirus fears seized the market. It looked as if Friday would be a repeat of Thursday as the S&P 500 was down as much as 4% before comments from a Fed governor about buying securities to prop up the economy helped the index rally late in the trading session to close down just 1.7% on the day.
Cyclical sectors bore the brunt of the pressure with energy and financials finishing at the bottom of the barrel. The energy sector fell as crude oil slid to its lowest level since mid-2016. Countercyclical sectors like utilities, consumer staples, health care, and real estate ended the week in positive territory with health care climbing after Joe Biden won the bulk of primaries on Super Tuesday, seizing the Democratic delegate count lead from Bernie Sanders.
Generally speaking coronavirus-related fears remained top of mind, and the growing focus on new cases in the U.S. and abroad exerted pressure on the market's expectations for global growth. The Federal Reserve announced an emergency 50 basis point rate cut on Tuesday, but the fed funds futures market expected another imminent sharp cut the next day.
Congress approved $8.50 billion emergency spending measures while administration officials hinted at targeted stimulus. However, that did little to improve investor sentiment.
Strong demand from investors sent Treasuries climbing higher throughout the week, sending yields plummeting to new lows. The 2 year Treasury ended the week at 0.53% and the 10 year Treasury closed at 0.77%. The 30 year Treasury also closed at a new low of 1.29%.
In other markets WTI crude, after climbing early in the week, fell over 9% on Friday after OPEC and Russia failed to reach an agreement to cut production to end the week at $41.57 a barrel. The U.S. Dollar ended the week lower at 96.09. Gold, a popular safe haven in turbulent times, had its best week since 2016, gaining 6.8% for the week.
March 9 – March 13 Economic Calendar