Weekly Market Commentary

-Darren Leavitt, CFA The holiday-shortened week saw the S&P 500 hit its 34th record high this year. The NASDAQ 100 also eclipsed the 20k mark for the first time.  Traders welcomed weaker-than-expected economic data that fostered the likelihood that the Federal...

-Darren Leavitt, CFA Financial markets finished the 2nd quarter with a lack of conviction.  Mega-caps led the market over the quarter with a 9.65% gain, while the equally weighted S&P 500 index declined by -2.42%, and the market weight S&P index gained 4.13%....

-Darren Leavitt, CFA The holiday-shortened week saw the S&P 500 eclipse 5500 and hit its 31st all-time high of the year.  Volumes were relatively light until Friday, when $5.5 trillion in derivatives expired and rolled in the next contract month.  Several...

-Darren Leavitt, CFA US Markets finished the second week of June with mixed results.  It was an extremely busy week for investors as key Central Bank policy decisions were announced outside of a full economic calendar centered on two key inflation data sets.  There...

-Darren Leavitt, CFA The S&P 500 inked its twenty-fifth all-time high for the year, with outperformance coming from the mega-cap technology names.  The Vanguard Mega-Cap Growth ETF was up 3.3% for the week. NVidia and AMD started the week with new product...

-Darren Leavitt, CFA The holiday-shortened week on Wall Street was volatile. The last of first-quarter earnings continued to influence the markets. Earning results from the retailers were mixed as BestBuy, Footlocker, Nordstrom’s, and Costco's shares increased on...

Weekly Market Commentary - 5/24/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Financial markets ended the week with mixed results. All eyes this week were on AI darling NVidia, which posted better-than-expected Q1 results and provided guidance above the consensus estimates. The company...

Weekly Market Commentary - 5/17/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The major US equity indices inked a fourth consecutive week of gains as US Treasury yields fell on an in-line CPI print that showed a deceleration of inflation for the first time in three months. Still, Fed...

Weekly Market Commentary - 5/10/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The S&P 500 notched a third consecutive week of gains as the index broke and held above its 50-day moving average.  Investors were treated to another dose of first-quarter corporate earnings. Disney, Uber,...

Weekly Market Commentary - 4/26/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA US equity markets bounced back last week, with nearly 40% of the S&P 500 companies reporting first-quarter results. The rally was propelled by Microsoft and Google, whose better-than-expected earnings not...

Weekly Market Commentary - 4/19/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Financial markets took another step back last week as investors grappled with increased tensions in the Middle East and the recognition that interest rates are likely going to be higher for longer. Iran fired...

Weekly Market Commentary - 4/12/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Financial markets pulled back for the second consecutive week as investors continued to recalibrate monetary policy expectations and assess the most recent conditions in geopolitics. A stronger-than-anticipated...

-Darren Leavitt, CFA Wall Street took a step back in the first week of the second quarter as robust economic data induced a recalibration of rate cut expectations. The recalibration was further influenced by Minneapolis Fed Governor Neel Kashkari's suggestion that the...

Weekly Market Commentary - 3/28/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The S&P 500 hit another all-time high this week as investors appeared to rebalance positions into quarter end.  The week started with some weakness on the announcement that the EU was investigating Meta,...

-Darren Leavitt, CFA US equity markets forged another set of new highs in an extremely busy week on Wall Street.  Global Central Banks took center stage, headlined by the Bank of Japan, the US Federal Reserve, and the Bank of England.  The BOJ, as expected, moved away...

Weekly Market Commentary - 3/15/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Markets pulled back this week as investors assessed hotter-than-anticipated inflation data. US Treasuries sold off across the curve as the higher-for-longer narrative strengthened ahead of the coming Federal...

Weekly Market Commentary - 3/8/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Financial markets endured a week of consolidation as investors dissected a full economic calendar and awaited more cues from the leaders of the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve.  ECB President...

-Darren Leavitt, CFA Markets pushed back on an early week sell-off to close at record highs for the S&P 500 and NASDAQ.  A building sense that the market is due for a pullback was met with inline consensus inflation data, continued outperformance in the...

-Darren Leavitt, CFA The S&P 500 and the Dow Industrial Average forged new all-time highs despite investors taking profits early in the holiday-shortened week.  Semiconductor stalwart NVidia’s fourth-quarter earnings results induced a massive rally in the stock...

Weekly Market Commentary - 2/16/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA Wall Street took a breather last week as hotter-than-expected inflation data forced investors to recalibrate their expectations for rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.  Mega-cap issues that have been...

Weekly Market Commentary - 2/9/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The S&P 500 hit another record high and topped the 5000 level for the first time as investors focused on better-than-expected Q4 earnings.  The economic calendar was light this week but showed continued...

Weekly Market Commentary - 2/2/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA It was a turbulent week on Wall Street as investors assessed the Federal Reserve’s decision on monetary policy while economic data and corporate earnings offered mixed results.   Tensions in the Middle East...

Weekly Market Commentary - 1/26/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA US equities inked another set of weekly gains on the back of mixed 4th quarter earnings results and encouraging economic data.  The S&P 500 and Dow set new all-time highs. Dutch Semiconductor Company ASML...

Weekly Market Commentary - 1/19/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average hit record highs on Friday despite a reset of monetary policy rate cut expectations.  Mega-cap technology issues outperformed with a jump start from the...

Weekly Market Commentary - 1/12/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA US Markets gained ground in the second week of 2024, attributed to mega-cap issues in the Information Technology and Communication Services sectors.  The Equal-weight S&P 500 was up 0.2%, while the Mega-Cap...

Weekly Market Commentary - 1/5/2024 -Darren Leavitt, CFA After nine weeks of gains, the market fell in the first week of trading in 2024.  Interestingly, the losses incurred this week largely came from areas of the market that outperformed last year, namely growth and...

Weekly Market Commentary - 12/22/2023 -Darren Leavitt, CFA US equity markets inked an 8th consecutive week of gains as investors continued to foster the soft landing narrative.  Trading volumes lightened as the week progressed and corporate news was relatively quiet. ...

Weekly Market Commentary - 12/15/2023 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The Bull market continued its rally streak to seven consecutive weeks, something not seen since 2017. Wall Street threw a “pivot party” as the US Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meeting ended with a...

Weekly Market Commentary - 12/8/2023 -Darren Leavitt, CFA The S&P 500 gained ground for the sixth consecutive week as US economic data continued to support the soft landing narrative.  Mega-cap issues provided leadership, while small-caps continued to perform...

Weekly Market Commentary - 12/1/2023 -Darren Leavitt, CFA A mélange of factors pushed US equity markets to a sneeze away from record highs.  US Treasuries continued to rally, sending yields lower across the curve.  The soft landing narrative continued as investors...