John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended November 22nd

GDP ahead

One of this week’s most closely watched reports is likely to be Wednesday’s update of third-quarter GDP growth. The government’s initial estimate in late October pegged last quarter’s growth at 1.9%—a notch below the second quarter’s 2.0% pace, and far below the first quarter’s 3.1% figure.

Yields fall

U.S. government bond prices rallied for the second week in a row, sending their yields lower amid concern about prospects for a U.S-China trade deal and the global economic outlook. The yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell to as low as 1.73% on Wednesday, down sharply from a recent high of 1.94% on November 8.

Consumer optimism

An indicator of U.S. consumer sentiment rose entering the holiday shopping season. Friday’s final November reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer-sentiment index was 96.8, above a preliminary figure of 95.7 released a couple weeks earlier. However, the index remains below its level of the spring, when it hit a recent high of 100.

Tech dominance

Although information technology stocks had a negative week, their strong year-to-date performance put the sector on track to potentially post its best year since 2009. The sector had returned more than 41% through Friday, far ahead of the 29% return of S&P 500’s second-ranked year-to-date sector, communication services.

Source: https://www.jhinvestments.com/weekly-market-recap