Market Recap for Week Ended March 30:
Yield squeeze. Amid the latest round of volatility in the stock market, the yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell to around 2.74%, the lowest level in about two months.
Economic boost. The government’s latest GDP estimate pegged economic growth at an annual rate of 2.9% in the fourth quarter, up from an earlier figure of 2.5%, due largely to higher-than-expected consumer spending. The growth rate slowed somewhat compared with the third quarter, when the figure was 3.2%.
Quarterly loss. The S&P 500 and the Dow finished the first quarter in negative territory, snapping a string of nine positive quarters in a row for the two indexes. The S&P fell nearly 1% and the Dow lost nearly 2%. The NASDAQ, however, was up nearly 3%.
Small-cap endurance. Stocks of smaller companies have fared relatively well amid the recent volatility, in part because most smaller firms are more domestically focused than bigger companies and less exposed to global trade tensions. A small-cap index, the Russell 2000, posted a 1.1% gain for March, compared with a 2.7% decline for the S&P 500, a large-cap index.
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