Market Blog

Index Performance – Week ending 5/8/2020:

S&P 500 Index:   3.50%

Dow Jones Industrial Average:  2.56%

Nasdaq Composite:   6.00%

Equities

US equities exhibited strength this week, as the S&P 500 Index climbed higher and cut year-to-date losses to under 10%. The gains came despite the Friday release of the April jobs report, which showed the unemployment rate rising to a level not previously seen in the post-war economy.

“This recession is unique, but that might not be all bad news,” said LPL Financial Senior Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “We’ve had to flip a switch on the economy, essentially frontloading an entire recession’s worth of damage into a couple months, creating some all-time dismal data. But that means we’ll eventually be able to flip it back on, supporting a robust recovery.”

The NASDAQ Composite, with its weighting in health care/biotech and technology names, led the market gains.  The NASDAQ has so far enjoyed a massive comeback this year, erasing the more than 20% losses experienced during February and March and now sports a positive year-to-date return. Small caps outperformed on the week, but the Russell 2000 remains more than 20% below its February highs.

Growth stocks led value by a wide margin, though the leading sectors were energy and technology, which both gained approximately 6%. This is the third consecutive week of leadership for energy stocks. Utilities lagged and was the only sector lower on the week.