- US equity markets saw an aggressive rally at the close on Friday, with the S&P 500 now near record highs.
- US data was largely ignored, and investors reverted to default optimism about the prospects for a US economic recovery.
Apparently, the US stock markets. they were panic-bought at the close on Friday, with the S&P 500 rising nearly 40 points from 3,930 to 3,970 (only roughly 20 points from the all-time highs set last week) in the last hour of trading. The bright rally meant the S&P 500 ended the session up 1.7%, meaning the index ended the week with gains close to 1.6%. The Dow and Nasdaq 100 also posted a strong session, gaining 1.4% and 1.6% respectively, while the small-cap Russell 2000 was up 1.7%. The CBOE Volatility Index fell another volume on the day to close at 18.83, erasing a momentary mid-session peak that saw it rise to 21.50.
In terms of the GICS sectors, there was no clear outperformance. However, there were clear underperformers, with utilities underperforming due to their classic defensive bias and consumer discretionary services (+ 0.8%) and communications services (-0.3%) suffering amid the decline. drop in Tesla (-3.4%) and Google (-0.4%). Bank stocks, meanwhile, performed well after the Fed announced it would lift income-based restrictions on bank dividends and share buybacks for “most companies” in June after the next round of testing. resistance.
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