John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended March 25th
Modest Moves
The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ both rose around 2.0% for the week while the Dow posted a 0.3% gain. Although those results fell far short of the NASDAQ’s 8.2% surge in the previous week, they marked the second positive week in a row for stocks despite growing expectations of steep interest-rate increases ahead.
Bond price rout
The sharp year-to-date decline in bond prices accelerated, sending the yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond up to levels not seen since May 2019. After finishing the previous week at 2.15%, the 10-year yield jumped to 2.49% on Friday. At the end of 2021, the yield was just 1.51%.
Home sales slump
The U.S. housing market got some grim news entering the typically busy spring homebuying season, as a report released on Friday showed a decline in pending home sales for the fourth month in a row. Pending sales in February fell 4.1% compared with the previous month—a drop that came as mortgage rates extended a recent rise.
Jobs ahead
A monthly U.S. labor market update due out on Friday will show whether the strong growth recorded in February carried over into March. In February, the economy generated the strongest job growth in seven months, with 678,000 jobs added; the unemployment rate fell to 3.8%.