Stocks rose to a record high as Energy, Materials and Financials in the S&P 500 led the charge last week. The closely watched payroll numbers came in much lower than expected at +266k jobs added versus the consensus estimate of a one million job surge. The data rattled the markets early on Friday before stocks, measured by the S&P 500, took off at the opening bell to close up over 1% for the week. Tech stocks continue to move independently from the broad market indexes. Both the NASDAQ 100 and NASDAQ Composite index lost value last week. On the positive side, the leaders of the S&P 500 were some all but forgotten Energy and Materials companies that have seen the benefit of increasing economic activity.
U.S. Treasury bond yields were down across the yield curve last week. The risk-off sentiment during the week was largely fueled by mixed economic reports. The ISM Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing Indexes, which are based on industry survey data, both came in lighter than expected for the month of April. Though both indexes still signaled economic expansion. Investors digested a softer-than-expected jobs report on Friday. Nonfarm payrolls increased 266,000 in the month of April, which was well short of the consensus expected level of 1,000,000 as increased government unemployment benefits persist. The largest increase in jobs during last month came from the leisure and hospitality sector.
