Price Return Last Week
S&P 500 (0.3%) S&P Mid Cap +1.4% Russell 2000 +0.3%
MSCI EAFE +2.3% MSCI EM +1.2%
10 Yr US Treasury Rate – fell from 4.18% to 4.09%
Source: Refinitiv Eikon
Recent News
Jobs Report – February: 275k (Reuters Poll est. 200k) January: 353k
The jobs report was mixed. February new hires exceed estimates by 75,000 while the January report was lowered by 124,000 jobs. Average hourly earnings were lower than expected at a 0.1% increase month-over-month but this datapoint has been inconsistent over the last several months, making it hard to determine a trend.
Source: Refinitiv Eikon
Powell Testimony – Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, maintains stance that they are likely to cut rates this year, but cuts won’t happen until they have “gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably” to 2% target. “We’re not looking for better inflation readings than we’ve had. We’re just looking for more of them.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal
China Sets Target – China sets an official growth target of 5% for 2024. To help them achieve this, they announced that they will issue approximately $139 billion of special treasury bonds. China has only issued these types of bonds on three previous occasions, the Asian financial crisis in 1998, the global financial crisis in 2007, and the pandemic outbreak in 2020.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
OPEC Extends Production Cuts – OPEC+ agrees to extend oil output cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day into the second quarter. Approximately two-thirds of the cuts are to come from output produced by Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Source: Thomson Reuters
Hollywood Bomb Wins Oscar – Christopher Nolan’s, “Oppenheimer,” wins big at the Oscars with 7 Academy Award victories. Matt Damon was one of the many star actors featured in the film in a role that he almost didn’t take. Damon revealed in an interview that he and his wife were engaged in couples therapy where he had agreed to take a break from acting. However, Damon had put one clause in their agreement, if Christopher Nolan offered him a role in a new movie, the break would be put on hold.
Source: Variety
Upcoming Events
3/11 – Notable Earnings Reports: Oracle
3/12 – CPI, Notable Earnings Reports: Kohls
3/14 – Retail Sales, Notable Earnings Reports: Adobe, Ulta Beauty
3/15 – Consumer Sentiment
Source: Refinitiv Eikon