Week of June 14, 2021

There was an unexpected decline in interest rates last week helping to boost the technology sector, with the 10-year treasury yield settling in at 1.46.  For stocks, the S&P 500 was up 0.4%, for the 3rd straight week and 28 record closes in 2021 and positive 3 of the last 4 days.  The Nasdaq was up 1.9% for the 4th straight week and at its highest since April 28th, also up 5 of the past 6 days.  For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.8%.  Year to date the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow are up 13.1%, 9.2% and 12.7% respectively.

In economic news, job openings in April hit record highs at 9.3 million vacancies.  The most noteworthy however was the May inflation data.  The Consumer Price Index rose faster than expectations, with estimates at 4.7%, but coming in at 5% year over year.  This was the fastest increase in CPI since 2008.

Cryptocurrency saw some volatility last week with Bitcoin being down 5% mid-week, since its high in April.  However, it recovered over the weekend after Elon Musk said it would resume allowing Bitcoin transactions. 

Looking ahead to this week, the Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Investors will be looking for clarity on what the Fed has to say about inflation, monetary policy and if there will be any tapering in the near future.