Winthrop Partners Market and Economic Update 6-21-21

The Markets (as of market close June 18, 2021)

Stocks opened the week with mixed returns: The Dow, the Russell 2000, and the Global Dow lost value, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 rose. Tech shares and consumer services closed higher, while financials and materials fell. Anticipating the Federal Open Market Committee meeting later in the week, investors may have been waiting for cues from the FOMC on its inflation outlook. Yields on 10-year Treasuries advanced. Crude oil prices pushed passed $71.00 per barrel. The dollar was mixed to lower.

Last Tuesday saw stocks close mostly lower. The Nasdaq (-0.7%) and the S&P 500 (-0.2%) retreated from the previous day’s gains, while the Dow and the Russell 2000 dipped -0.3%. The Global Dow was unchanged. Among the sectors, energy jumped 2.1%, industrials rose 0.5%, and utilities gained 0.4%. The remaining sectors fell. Crude oil prices climbed above $72.00 per barrel, the dollar was unchanged, while Treasury yields ticked slightly lower.

On Wednesday, Treasury yields climbed higher and stock prices fell as investors may have been influenced by the Federal Reserve’s projection that interest-rate increases may be coming in 2023. Each of the benchmark indexes listed here fell, with the Global Dow and the Dow dropping 0.8%. The S&P 500 dipped 0.5%, while the Russell 2000 and the Nasdaq lost 0.2%. The dollar advanced, while crude oil prices declined but remain close to $72.00 per barrel. Consumer discretionary was the only sector to gain, inching up 0.2%. Utilities, consumer staples, industrials, and materials each declined by at least 1.0%.

Tech shares pushed the Nasdaq 0.9% higher last Thursday, the only benchmark index to post a gain on the day. The Global Dow (-1.4%), the Russell 2000 (-1.2%), and the Dow (-0.6%) lost ground, while the S&P 500 closed slightly in the red. Treasury yields dipped as did crude oil prices. The dollar advanced nearly 1.0%. The market sectors were mixed. Besides technology, health care, consumer discretionary, communication services, real estate, and utilities gained, while energy, financials, materials, and industrials fell.

Stocks fell across the board last Friday as a Federal Reserve official suggested that interest rates may be increasing sooner than anticipated due to a faster-than-expected rise in inflation. The Russell 2000 dropped 2.2%, followed by the Global Dow (-2.0%), the Dow (-1.6%), the S&P 500 (-1.3%), and the Nasdaq (-0.9%). Treasury bond prices rose driving the yield on 10-year Treasuries below 1.50%. The dollar and crude oil prices advanced on the day. Each of the market sectors decreased, with energy, utilities, and financials falling more than 2.5%.

The week ended with each of the benchmark indexes losing ground. The small caps of the Russell 2000 fell the furthest, followed by the Global Dow, the Dow (which dropped for the fifth consecutive session), the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq. Among the sectors, financials and materials lost more than 6.0%, energy fell over 5.0%, and industrials dipped nearly 4.0%. The dollar and crude oil prices advanced, 10-year Treasury yields closed down 1.0 basis point, and gold prices ended a run of positive weekly gains, plunging 6.0%.

The national average retail price for regular gasoline was $3.069 per gallon on June 14, $0.034 per gallon more than the prior week’s price and $0.971 higher than a year ago. U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.3 million barrels per day during the week ended June 11; this was 412,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average. For the week ended June 11, refineries operated at 92.6% of their operable capacity, up from the prior week’s level of 91.3%. Gasoline production increased during the week of June 14, averaging 9.9 million barrels per day, up from the prior week’s average of 9.4 million barrels per day Click here for more: Winthrop Partners Market and Economic Update 6-21-21