In a week packed with important economic announcements, a late rally left major indices mixed. The S&P 500 and Dow Industrials scored new all-time highs, while the Nasdaq dipped. The famous question from the SNL skit, “so what is Dogecoin” is gaining plenty of attention, but remains unanswered? The Dow up 2.72%, S&P up 1.26%, and Nasdaq down 1.48% for the week.
Last Week
In a week packed with important economic announcements, a late rally left major indices mixed. The non-farm payrolls disappointed, with only 266,000 jobs created in April versus expectations of nearly 1 million. Increased government unemployment benefits continue. This contrasted with Wednesday’s ADP report which showed private sector payrolls advancing by 742,000 in April. The unemployment rate in April ticked up to 6.1%. In general, the labor market continues to improve, with last week’s new claims falling to a pandemic-era low of 498,000.
ISM Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing Indexes, which are based on industry survey data, both came in lighter than expected for April. However, both indexes still signaled economic expansion. With economic activity picking up, but the jobs number sending mixed signals to the market,
policymakers are reluctant to change their conservative views of the recovery. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the jobs report “underscores the long-haul climb back to recovery.” She retains her expectation of full employment returning in 2022.
Crypto currency dogecoin fell 25% intra-day Sunday following the Musk hosted SNL. But what is it? According to CNBC, in 2013, software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer launched the satirical cryptocurrency as a way to make fun of bitcoin and the many other cryptocurrencies boasting grand plans to take over the world. “The joke is on Wall Street this time,” said Mati Greenspan, portfolio manager and founder of Quantum Economics. “What you have is a situation where teens on TikTok are outperforming even the smartest suits by thousands of percentage points.” Dogecoin hit an all-time high Friday afternoon. Dogecoin now has a market capitalization of about $92 billion following a six-month climb of more than 26,000 percent. Not much of a joke at the moment.
Week Ahead
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s hawkish rate hike commentary briefly sent worry through risk markets before she walked them back. Fed members continued to deflect inflation concerns. There are several FOMC member speeches today and tomorrow. So we will see if they maintain a united front. U.S. retail sales are expected to come in strong again. This continues the strong results from last month, a nearly 10% jump. Crypto currency dogecoin has rebounded 5% intra-day on Monday.
Year-to-date index performance; Dow up 13.62%, S&P up 12.68%, and Nasdaq up 6.70% through the close on Friday.
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