Weekly Market Bullets

for the week ending 3/22/2024

• US Equity Markets rallied last week, as investors cheered Fed indications that it still expects to cut rates three times in 2024. The S&P 500 was up 2.3% for the week to bring its gains for the year to 9.7%. The Nasdaq rose 2.9% for the week and is now up 9.4% for the year, while the Russell 2000 (small cap stocks) increased 1.6% for the week and is now up 2.2% for the year.

• Global Equity Markets rose last week with Japan hit a fresh all-time high following comments from the Bank of Japan that price stability would be achieved and sustainable. Developed Markets were up 1.3% for the week and are now up 4.8% for the year. Emerging Markets increased 0.4% for the week despite weakness in China and are now up 1.5% for the year.

• US Interest Rates dropped following the Fed meeting last week. The Fed eased investor concerns about fewer rate cuts last week, reaffirming that it still expects three rate cuts this year. As a result, the yield on the US 10-Year Treasury fell to 4.21% last week from 4.31% the prior week. Wall Street continues to expect three rates cuts of 0.25% each this year with the first coming at the Fed meeting in June.

• The era of negative interests globally appears to have come to an end. With the Bank of Japan raising rates for the first time in 17 years, the period of negative interest rates appears to be over. At one point during the pandemic-related lockdowns in 2020, negative yielding debt hit $18 trillion. Today, that number is roughly $300 billion. Investors' willingness to accept negative yields didn't make sense to us then and doesn't make sense to us now, so we are thankful this era may be behind us.

Market Data

for the week ending 3/22/2024