Author: Aileen Beno-Lietz

The Major Markets closed higher across the board last week. The Nasdaq expanded the year-to-date gains another three and a quarter percent which took the performance to over 30 percent for the year. Furthermore, this marked the 8th consecutive week of gains for the tech index and the highest weekly gains since the end of the first quarter.
And while the FOMC voted to keep the current interest rates steady, they left the door open for future increases later this year.

The Major Markets closed higher across the board last week. For the S&P 500, the big news was that it crossed over the 4,300 level after flirting with the threshold the last couple weeks. Moreover, the cumulative gains since the Q4 lows exceeded 20 percent, effectively taking the Blue-Chip index back into bull market territory.

Gains in all five indices exceeded a percentage point with the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq vying for the top position with just over two percentage point gains, returning the year-to-date Small Cap Value style box to positive territory last week.

While most Americans were relaxing with the unofficial start of summer, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were working out a tentative deal to extend the debt ceiling.

The drop in performance of the broad bond indices was the result of an increase in the yield curve.

Headline from NPR: “JPMorgan Chase buys troubled First Republic Bank after U.S. government takeover”.