John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended August 19th

Fed’s tough task

Minutes released from last month’s U.S. Federal Reserve meeting showed that policymakers agreed they needed to keep raising interest rates, although they expressed concerns about lifting borrowing costs too fast and unduly weakening the economy. Stocks closed lower on Wednesday after investors assessed the minutes release.

Momentum shift

The major U.S. stock indexes were little changed through most of the week but ended with a decline on Friday, snapping a string of four consecutive weekly gains for the S&P 500 and NASDAQ. With the next U.S. Federal Reserve meeting just over a month away, investors worried about the pace of further interest-rate increases.

Retail flattens out

There was virtually no change last month in U.S. retail sales, a segment of the economy that’s recently been holding up relatively well amid high inflation. The flat result for July was attributed largely to the recent decline in the price of gasoline; excluding gas and autos, retail and food sales rose 0.7% relative to the previous month.

Fed’s summer agenda

Investors and economists will turn their attention to the Rocky Mountain town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold its annual three-day economic policy symposium beginning Thursday, August 25. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is among the featured speakers.

Source: https://wmr.jhinvestments.com/