Week In Perspective: Market reaps big, pre-holiday gains [Updated: 02-July-20]

Updated: 02-July-20

A weekly recap of market activity and events, featuring commentary, analysis written with individual investors in mind.

Week in perspective provided by Briefing.com. Briefing.com offers live market analysis on their web site www.Briefing.com

The S&P 500 rose 4.0% this week to recoup last week's decline and some, as the market entered the third quarter with the same rebounding mindset as last quarter. The Nasdaq Composite (+4.6%) edged out the benchmark index to close at a record high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.3%, and Russell 2000 rose 3.9%. 

The gains were broad and noteworthy. All 11 S&P 500 sectors closed in positive territory with gains ranging from 1.6% (financials) to 5.6% (communication services). The financial sector was the only sector to advance less than 2.0% this week. 

Interestingly, this week was not all that different from last week from a macro news perspective. Companies and states continued to take preemptive measures to help slow down the record count of new coronavirus cases, while economic data continued to depict a faster than expected recovery. This time, though, the market bestowed its faith in a recovery. 

In the labor market, nonfarm payrolls increased by 4.800 million in June (Briefing.com consensus 3.50 million), the unemployment rate ticked lower to 11.1% in June (Briefing.com consensus 12.6%) from 13.3% in May, and weekly initial claims declined for the 13th straight week to 1.427 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.355 million).

Outside the labor market, the ISM Manufacturing Index for June returned into expansionary mode with a 52.6% reading (Briefing.com consensus 49.2%), pending home sales rebounded 44.3% m/m in May (Briefing.com consensus +18.0%), and factory orders rebounded 8.0% in May (Briefing.com consensus +7.0%).

In other positive developments, Boeing (BA) resumed 737 MAX flights for certification, and Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) reportedly made progress on their COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Tesla (TSLA) shares surged 26% this week, bringing its market cap to $224 billion, as money continued to flow into momentum stocks. The company also pleased investors at the end of the week with news that it delivered approximately 90,650 vehicles in the second quarter.

U.S. Treasuries finished mixed this week. The 2-yr yield declined one basis point to 0.15%, while the 10-yr yield increased three basis points to 0.68%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.2% to 97.22. WTI crude futures rose 5.0%, or $1.93, to $40.42/bbl.

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