John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended March 8th
Early-year rally stalls
Major stock indexes fell around 2%, sustaining their biggest losses since December, and the NASDAQ saw its 10-week winning streak snapped. While there were no big sell-offs, stocks fell for 5 days in a row heading into Saturday’s 10th anniversary of the bull market.
Yield watch
Prices of U.S. government debt rallied, sending government bond yields down to their lowest level since early January. The yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell as low as 2.60% in intraday trading on Friday—a sharp decline from the prior week’s closing yield of 2.75%.
Jobs disappointment
U.S. jobs growth dropped to the slowest monthly pace in about a year and a half. The economy generated just 20,000 jobs in February, far short of most economists’ expectations and January’s 311,000 figure. However, the unemployment rate slipped to 3.8% and wage growth accelerated.
Buyback record
U.S. stock buybacks have broken a record for the fourth quarter in a row. Companies in the S&P 500 reported nearly $215 billion in share repurchases in last year’s fourth quarter, topping the prior record of $204 billion set in the third quarter of 2018, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Source: https://wmr.jhinvestments.com/