John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended March 29th
Dazzling Q1
Although March’s results weren’t as impressive as the numbers from January and February, first-quarter stock performance was the best in about a decade. The S&P 500 returned nearly 14% over the first three months of the year, the Dow about 12%, and the NASDAQ nearly 17%.
Calming trend
Market volatility subsided in a big way over the first three months of the year, based on a gauge that measures investors’ expectations of short-term stock volatility. The Cboe Volatility Index dropped 46% in the first quarter to a level that’s close to its historical average.
Tech leadership
The information technology sector was far and away the top-performing sector in the S&P 500 during the first three months of the year, returning nearly 20%. Healthcare was the quarter’s sector laggard, returning about 7%.
Surging buybacks
U.S. stock buybacks broke a record for the fourth quarter in a row, and the record total for all of 2018 was up 55% from the previous year. Last year, companies in the S&P 500 reported $806 billion in share repurchases, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Source: https://wmr.jhinvestments.com