John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended November 2nd
Bruising October
A rally over the final two days of the month took only a little of the edge off the U.S. stock market’s worst October performance since 2008. The 6.9% decline in the S&P 500 was the biggest drop for any month in seven years, leaving the index with only a tiny gain over the first ten months of the year.
Pay increase
Friday’s monthly jobs report provided further evidence of the U.S. economy’s strength, and wage growth climbed to 3.1%, the fastest annualized rate since 2009. The economy generated 250,000 jobs in October and unemployment was unchanged at 3.7%, the lowest rate since 1969.
Housing cools
The U.S. housing market continues to soften. Home prices in major metropolitan areas rose 5.8% in August—the 5th consecutive month that the pace of growth has decelerated. Analysts said rising mortgage rates appear to be weighing on home prices.
Small-cap surge
Small-cap stocks posted gains that were nearly twice as big as those of their large-cap peers in the latest week, with a small-cap benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index, rising more than 4%. Strong U.S. economic data helped lift small caps, which tend to be more closely tied to domestic trends than more globally oriented large caps.
Source: https://wmr.jhinvestments.com