The S&P 500s string of five consecutive weeks of gains came to a halt as it closed down for the week at 5,277. The markets were closed on Monday for Memorial Day. Tuesday was a flat day, but the 10 year note yield opened at 4.453% and climbed throughout the day. This carried over into Wednesday with the yield topping at 4.638%. Increasing yields put pressure on the equity markets, and the S&P 500 fell 0.74%. The bear continued into Thursday as Nvidia (NVDA) slid, but yields did reverse to the downside. Before Fridays open the April Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index came in at 0.2%, the slowest increase for 2024 and below market expectations of 0.3%. The yield on the 10 year note stabilized, but the S&P 500 continued to drop, making an intraweek low of 5,191 at 1223. But then things improved. Thirty minutes later the S&P 500 regained the 5,200 level, and by 1530 the S&P 500 was at 5,231. Over the last 30 minutes the bull took over with the S&P 500 closing at 5,277, up over 1.6% from that lunchtime low. Although the S&P 500 was down this week, it was up for May, registering its sixth positive month in seven. From a technical perspective the Bollinger Band Index, which measures volatility, is decreasing which is indicative of market consolidation. While the S&P 500 did have a lower intraweek high and lower intraweek low than the previous week, its price is > its 20 Moving Average (MA), which is > its 50 MA, which is > its 200 MA. For next week might get more consolidation until Friday, when the Unemployment Report comes out before the markets open. For TSP TIPS both the I and C funds have identical Composite Scores and nearly identical Performance Rankings. As such we recommend no changes to our current investment mix.
The S&P 500s string of five consecutive weeks of gains came to a halt as it closed down for the week at 5,277. The markets were closed on Monday for Memorial Day. Tuesday was a flat day, but the 10 year note yield opened at 4.453% and climbed throughout the day. This carried over into Wednesday with the yield topping at 4.638%. Increasing yields put pressure on the equity markets, and the S&P 500 fell 0.74%. The bear continued into Thursday as Nvidia (NVDA) slid, but yields did reverse to the downside. Before Fridays open the April Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index came in at 0.2%, the slowest increase for 2024 and below market expectations of 0.3%. The yield on the 10 year note stabilized, but the S&P 500 continued to drop, making an intraweek low of 5,191 at 1223. But then things improved. Thirty minutes later the S&P 500 regained the 5,200 level, and by 1530 the S&P 500 was at 5,231. Over the last 30 minutes the bull took over with the S&P 500 closing at 5,277, up over 1.6% from that lunchtime low. Although the S&P 500 was down this week, it was up for May, registering its sixth positive month in seven. From a technical perspective the Bollinger Band Index, which measures volatility, is decreasing which is indicative of market consolidation. While the S&P 500 did have a lower intraweek high and lower intraweek low than the previous week, its price is > its 20 Moving Average (MA), which is > its 50 MA, which is > its 200 MA. For next week might get more consolidation until Friday, when the Unemployment Report comes out before the markets open. For TSP TIPS both the I and C funds have identical Composite Scores and nearly identical Performance Rankings. As such we recommend no changes to our current investment mix.