John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended May 3rd

Fast start

April’s 3.9% rise in the S&P 500 lifted the index’s gain through the first four months of the year to 17.5%—the stock market’s best start to a year since 1987, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. The Dow’s April gain was 2.6%; the NASDAQ added 4.7%.

Jobs engine

The nation’s unemployment rate has fallen to 3.6%, the lowest since December 1969. Friday’s labor market report also showed the economy generated 263,000 jobs in April—above most economists’ expectations, and ahead of the average monthly gain of 213,000 over the prior 12 months.

Fed stays patient

As expected, the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept interest rates unchanged, and Chairman Jerome Powell said that, for now, the Fed doesn’t see a strong case for moving rates up or down. Powell also tried to downplay concerns that recent softness in inflation could indicate underlying weakness in the economy.

CPI ahead

A government release on the Consumer Price Index that’s scheduled to come out on Friday will be one of the week’s most closely watched reports, as a recent downturn in inflation has generated plenty of talk among monetary policymakers. In March, so-called core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose at an annual rate of just 1.6%, down from 1.8% in the prior month.

Source: https://wmr.jhinvestments.com