Modestly Positive Post Memorial Day Week helped by Promising May Employment Numbers
Market Recap Week ending 6.4.21
The holiday-shortened week produced modest gains for US equity markets. The market was relatively quiet, especially at the beginning of the week, except for some rather profound moves in "MEME" stocks such as AMC and GameStop. Economic data for the week showed continued progress and was headlined by Friday's May Employment Situation Report. The G-7 and the Biden Administration both floated the notion of a minimum corporate tax rate which in the US would shelve the proposition to raise the corporate rate from 21% to 28%.
The S&P 500 added 0.6% for the week, the Dow gained 0.7%, the NASDAQ increased 0.5%, and the Russell 2000 tacked on 0.8%. US Treasuries had a bit of a ride over the week. The 2-year note yield closed unchanged at 0.14%, while the 10-year yield fell three basis points to 1.55%. Oil prices continued their ascent, gaining 4.5% or $3.29 to close at $69.61 a barrel. OPEC's strong demand assessment bolstered the strength in crude. Not surprisingly, the energy sector outperformed over the week with a 6.7% advance. Gold prices fell $10.60 to close at $1891.60.
The May Employment Situation Report helped markets rally on Friday. The report showed that the labor market was making progress but not at a pace that would incite a spike in wage inflation. The report showed that non-farm payrolls increased by 559k versus the consensus estimate of 720k. Private payrolls increased 492k versus 650k. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% in May from April's reading of 6.1%. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% but had been expected to come in at 0.5%. Initial claims fell below 400k for the first time since last March, while Continuing claims for the week regressed slightly. Manufacturing and services data reported for the week was also encouraging and saw gains over the prior month's data. Additionally, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) increased its global economic outlook for 2021 and 2022.
