John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended May 29th

May flowers

The latest month’s stock market gains paled in comparison with April’s sizzling double-digit returns, but the major indexes continued to regain ground lost when stocks fell sharply in February and March. The NASDAQ added nearly 7% in May, while the S&P 500 and the Dow both rose more than 4%. 

Style rotation

Although growth stocks have outperformed their value counterparts by a wide margin year to date, a reversal could be at hand. For the second week in a row, a value stock benchmark outperformed a comparable benchmark for growth stocks; in the latest week, the Russell 1000 Value Index was up nearly 5% versus a more than 2% gain for the Russell 1000 Growth Index. 

Spending drop-off

Spending by U.S. consumers in April tumbled nearly 14%, the biggest monthly decline since the government began tracking spending data in 1959. However, personal income jumped nearly 11% last month, boosted by government stimulus payments to help offset the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Labor losses

Friday’s monthly jobs report is expected to be the most closely watched economic release of the week. Uncertainty over the impact of coronavirus-related restrictions has challenged the ability of economists to make forecasts for the May report. The April report tallied 20.5 million job losses—the largest monthly decline on record—while the unemployment rate surged to 14.7%. 

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