Despite the holiday shorten trading week, the S&P 500 Index returned -1.15% last week, marking the seventh loss in the last eight weeks for the index. Energy was the top performing sector as global energy supply/demand remains out of balance. Oil closed Friday at $118.87 per barrel, the highest price since early March just after Russia invaded Ukraine. Last week OPEC agreed to boost their production output by increasing their growth in quotas from ~430k per month to ~650k per month starting in July. Despite the ~50% hike in OPEC production growth, energy markets continued to rally as inventory draws and recovering demand outpaced supply.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., had some candid comments last week: “Right now, it’s kind of sunny, things are doing fine, everyone thinks the Fed can handle this… However, that hurricane is right out there… we just don’t know if it’s a minor one or a superstorm… you better brace yourself.” These comments sent equities falling as he is considered one of America’s top CEO’s.