John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended October 3

September snapshot

The U.S. stock market closed out the third quarter with another monthly gain in September. The S&P 500 added 3.5% for the month; on a quarterly basis, the index gained 7.8%. As for other major indexes, the NASDAQ outperformed in September, climbing 5.6%, while the Dow added 1.9%.

Alternatives rally

The price of Bitcoin rose sharply amid the opening days of the U.S. government shutdow and gold climbed for the seventh consecutive week. As of Friday afternoon, Bitcoin was trading above $122,000—the highest level since a mid-August peak and up about 11% for the week. Gold futures were trading at a record high of more than $3,900 per ounce, up nearly 3%.

Baby steps

The three major U.S. stock indexes climbed more than 1% for the week, rebounding from the previous week’s slight pullback. The S&P 500 posted fractional gains of 0.4% or less each day of the trading week, slowly pushing its record level higher.

Earnings outlook

Growth expectations are high as major U.S. banks prepare to kick off earnings season in mid-October. As of Friday, analysts were expecting companies in the S&P 500 to report third-quarter earnings growth averaging around 8.0%, according to FactSet. Such an outcome would mark the ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year earnings growth.

SOURCE: https://www.jhinvestments.com/weekly-market-recap#market-moving-news