Market Rolling with Doubts

What impact did the week have on the market?

• Sequence of Gains Interrupted:

The major U.S. stock indexes each fell more than 1%, breaking strings of eight consecutive weekly gains for the NASDAQ, five for the S&P 500, and three for the Dow. Concerns about further interest-rate hikes and a slowing global economy weighed on stocks.

One thing to look at as we approach the midpoint of 2023, the U.S. stock market’s top performers look a lot different than they did at this point in 2022. This year, information technology companies dominate the list of S&P 500 stocks with the biggest year-to-date returns; in 2022, all 10 of the leaders as of June 22 of that year were energy firms.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

• Inflation continues:

During his testimony before Congress, Jerome Powell, the Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, expressed the view that there is still a significant distance to cover in the Fed's efforts to curb inflation. He indicated that it is probable that additional interest rate hikes will be necessary in the upcoming months. Following the decision to keep rates unchanged at its previous meeting, the Federal Reserve will assess whether to resume raising rates during its session scheduled for July 25-26.

Source: Bloomberg

• Bitcoin’s Comeback:

The price of Bitcoin, the most widely traded cryptocurrency, surged nearly 18% for the week to around $31,000 on Friday. Although Bitcoin was trading at less than half of its record high of nearly $69,000 set in November 2021, the price had risen nearly 90% year to date as of Friday.??

Source: Seeking Alpha

Check out the Top 5 stocks in each industry:

What to expect for the markets next week?

• Price Check Ahead: A report scheduled to be released on Friday will show whether a recent slight monthly rise in U.S. inflation extended into May, as measured by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge for tracking prices.

• More Updates: Next week will be the last trading week of the month, quarter, and first half of the year.

We’ll receive more updates on the housing market next week with April home prices and May new home sales.