October 12 – October 16 Week in Review
It was a mostly up week for the markets last week. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.8%, while the S&P 500, up 0.2%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average, up 0.1%, eked out smaller gains. The small cap Russell 2000 decreased 0.2%.
There was no clear sector leadership with five S&P 500 sectors finishing higher led by the industrials, up 1.1%. At the other end, the energy and real estate sectors declined more than 2.0%.
Growth oriented names secured a slight advantage last week, evident by the outperformance of the Nasdaq Composite. That might have been due to the negative sounding developments throughout the week.
Starting with earnings, the big banks and the top health care companies kicked off the Q3 earnings reporting season, and the reactions to their reports were generally lackluster or disappointing. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs for their part issued cautious sounding commentary about the economic outlook.
In addition, investors had to contend with Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly pausing their vaccine/antibody trials, the continuing impasse on fiscal stimulus, weekly jobless claims increasing by 53,000 to 898,000, and Europe announcing renewed lockdown measures due to a second wave of the coronavirus.
These events came in the midst of a three-day losing streak in the S&P 500, which was ultimately snapped on Friday after retail sales for September increased more than expected and it was reported that Pfizer may file for emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate by the end of November.
In the bond markets interest rates fell slightly last week. The 2 year yield dropped two basis points to 0.14% and the 10 year yield decreased four basis points to 0.74%.
In other markets the U.S. Dollar Index advanced 0.7% to 93.71, WTI crude futures increased 0.5% to $40.85 a barrel and gold closed at $1,902.90 an ounce.
October 19 – October 23 Economic Calendar