Hello, this is Josh Waynick, Senior Investment Strategist at Fifth Third Bank.
Over the last week, global equities were mostly higher with the S&P 500 posting the 3rd week in a row of gains. Specifically, the Dow Jones Industrial average gave investors a return of 0.6%. The S&P 500 moved higher by 0.6%, the Nasdaq Composite ended the week higher by 1.0%, and the Russell 2000 fell by 0.1% over the last week.
Looking at debt markets, U.S. treasury yields moved higher over the week in a near uniform shape with multiple term points seeing yields higher by 5 to 6 basis points. Specifically, the 2-year yield ended Friday at 3.62% with the 10-year yield ending the week at 3.80%.
The dollar index, which measures the US Dollar against a basket of global currencies, moved slightly higher during the week and ended the week up 0.2%. Gold rose by 1.9% over the week and ended the week at $2,671 per oz. Oil fell over the last week, reversing a trend of two weeks for higher oil prices. Specifically, at the end of Friday, West Texas Intermediate sat at $67.32 per barrel.
This past week was quiet in terms of major reports. From an economic perspective, this past Monday S&P Global detailed Manufacturing and Service activity for September. Domestic readings showed a disparity with manufacturing activity coming in lower than expectations and in contractionary territory, while service-related activity came in above expectations and in expansionary territory. This past Thursday, weekly initial jobless claims came in slightly below last week while continuing unemployment claims came in slightly above last week. Finally, this past Friday investors got updates from the University of Michigan Sentiment index and updates on the U.S. consumer. The University of Michigan sentiment index surprised to the upside with the highest reading since April. Looking at the U.S. consumer, personal income and personal spending all came in below expectations and below last months values.
Third Quarter earnings season will be slowly picking up steam in the coming weeks. This week, 7 companies in the S&P 500 are set to detail their financial results. Turning our attention to this week’s economic news, investors will get updates on the U.S. Labor Market. On Tuesday October 1st, the Job Opening Labor Turnover report is set to report. While on Friday investors will get more details on the U.S. labor market with the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly Employment Situation Report. Investors are expecting Nonfarm Payrolls, or established jobs, to detail an increase in domestic jobs by around 140 thousand. Additionally, the Unemployment Rate is expected to hold steady at 4.2%
That concludes this week’s Economic Beat. As always, we will be watching and reporting back to you next week.
