Weekly Market Bullets

for the week ending 10/20/2023

• US Equity Markets struggled last week as interest rates spiked higher and concerns increased about a broader war in the Middle East. The S&P 500 dropped 2.4% for the week to bring its gains for the year to 10.0%. The Nasdaq declined 3.2% for the week and is now up 24.1% for the year, while the Russell 2000 (small cap stocks) fell 2.3% for the week and is now down 4.6% for the year.

• Global Equity Markets have erased their gains for the year amid the rising turmoil in the Middle East and inflation concerns out of Asia. Developed Markets were down 2.4% for the week and are now down 0.6% for the year. Emerging Markets decreased 2.7% for the week to bring its losses for the year to down 3.9%.

• US Interest rates hit their highest levels since 2007. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell indicated last week that monetary policy is not yet too tight, paving the way for another possible rate hike. The yield on the US 10-Year Treasury crossed 5.0% last week for the first time since 2007, eventually closing the week at 4.92% vs. 4.63% the prior week.

• Only 7 stocks in the S&P 500 have accounted for over 100% of the returns of the S&P 500 this year. These stocks, the so-called "Magnificent 7" of Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet, Meta, Tesla, and Amazon, are up an average of 83% for the year, while the remaining 493 stocks on average are down. If these 7 stocks represented their own sector of the market, they would be the largest sector by far at over 28% of the market, over 1500 basis points higher than the next largest sector (Financials).

Market Data

for the week ending 10/20/2023