John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended May 19th

Growth back in style

An index that tracks U.S. large-cap growth stocks again outperformed its value counterpart by a wide margin, extending the growth equity style’s big year-to-date performance leadership. The growth index’s year-to-date gain was 19% as of Friday versus an essentially flat result for the value index.

Yields rebound  

With many investors keeping a close eye on U.S. government debt ceiling negotiations in Washington, the yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose to the highest level in more than two months. The bond was trading around 3.69% on Friday—up from a recent low of 3.29% on April 6, yet well below a peak of 4.07% on March 2.

Retail checkup

After declining in February and March, U.S. retail sales posted a modest recovery in April, rising a seasonally adjusted 0.4%. The increase was driven in part by higher spending on automobiles, dining out, and online purchases.

Fed minutes ahead

In addition to tracking the latest negotiations over the U.S. government debt ceiling, many investors will be looking ahead to Wednesday’s release of minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting that concluded on May 3. The minutes could shed light on Fed officials’ recent views as to whether to pause its rate-hiking cycle or lift rates for the eleventh meeting in a row. The next meeting is June 13–14.

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