The S&P 500 Index returned 2.03% last week after closing Friday at all-time highs. Equities rallied on positive economic data and strong corporate earnings. The reopen trade rallied Friday after Pfizer Inc. announced results on a new therapeutic for COVID-19, which reduced hospitalizations and deaths by 89% for unvaccinated patients. They planned on submitting Bourla for FDA authorization by Thanksgiving.
U.S. Treasury bond yields were mostly down last week as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s announcement and Friday’s jobs report. The long end of the yield curve increased in response to the Federal Reserve’s announcement on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve announced they will start tapering or reducing their asset purchases per month. When questioned about interest rates, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated rate hikes could happened in the back half of next year, but the Federal Reserve will remain “data dependent” in their decisions. Regarding inflation, Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve’s certainty in inflation being transitory continues to wane as higher prices persist. The week wrapped up with Friday’s stronger than expected jobs report. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 531,000 in October, well above the expected 450,000, and the unemployment rate dropped 20 basis points last month to 4.6%.
