Winthrop Partners Weekly Update March 9, 2020

The Markets (as of market close March 6, 2020)

While it apparently took a day to take effect, the Fed’s decision to reduce the target range for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points quelled the massive rush to sell stocks and brought some investors back to the market. Following losses earlier in the week, the benchmark indexes surged with the Dow gaining more than 700 points last Wednesday. Unfortunately, the wild ride continued into Thursday with stocks losing most of the prior day’s gains. A final rally just before the close of the market on Friday was enough to push a few of the benchmark indexes listed here moderately higher. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq were the only indexes to post gains over their respective prior week’s closing values. The Russell 2000 and Global Dow couldn’t rally enough to finish in the black.

Money poured from stocks to long-term bonds, pushing prices higher and sending yields plummeting. The yield on 10-year Treasuries dropped below 1.0% for the first time ever last Tuesday, only to continue to fall to record lows each day thereafter until reaching 0.70% by the close of trading on Friday.

Oil prices fell to their lowest point in many years last week, closing at $41.56 per barrel by late Friday afternoon, down from the prior week’s price of $45.19. Russia’s apparent refusal to cut production greatly contributed to the drop in oil prices. The price of gold (COMEX) shot higher last week, closing at $1,674.30 by late Friday afternoon, up from the prior week’s price of $1,585.80. The national average retail regular gasoline price was $2.423 per gallon on March 2, 2020, $0.043 lower than the prior week’s price but $0.001 more than a year ago. Click for more:Winthrop Partners Weekly Update 3-9-2020