John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended March 5th

Yield surge

Government bond prices were under pressure again, as the yield of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond soared above 1.60% at one point on Friday, the highest in 13 months. As recently as late September, the yield was just 0.66%; at the end of last year, it was 0.92%.

Healing jobs market

The U.S. economy generated 379,000 jobs in February, more than double the amount that most economists had expected.  The bulk of the job growth came in leisure and hospitality, where hiring picked up in a segment of the economy that’s been hit hard by the pandemic.

Fed’s inflation outlook

Comments on Thursday from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell appeared to have triggered at least some of a steep market decline that afternoon. Powell suggested that inflation is likely to pick up in the coming months but that it would likely prove temporary—and not enough for the Fed to alter its current policy of maintaining ultralow interest rates.

Earnings scorecard

Data from the recently concluded quarterly earnings season shows that companies in the S&P 500 recorded an average earnings gain of 3.9% over the same quarter a year earlier, according to FactSet. Materials was the strongest among all 11 sectors, with earnings growth of 22.0%.

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