Friday's S&P 500 (SP500) 4.02% increase It ended the week at 5,626.02 points, rising in all five sessions. The accompanying SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:Spy) Increased by 4.01% This week.
Bulls stormed into Wall Street this week, The benchmark index is Worst week The best week of the year was recorded by the S&PSP500) Best week since late October 2023.
“The last time[the S&P 500]fell more than 4% in a week and then rose more than 4% was in June 2022,” Bespoke Investment Group noted on X (formerly Twitter).
Stocks tumbled last week as worries about economic growth mounted following a string of weak data, especially from the labor market. That, combined with a historic weakness in September, prompted investors to pull money out of growth sectors like technology and into safe havens like bonds.
That view has reversed this week as market participants received inflation data that strongly reinforced expectations of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve next Wednesday. The only question now is how big the cut will be.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for August released on Wednesday showed the headline number slowing compared to a year ago. The headline Producer Price Index (PPI) released on Thursday also slowed compared to a year ago. Core CPI and core PPI came in slightly above expectations.
“Last week's employment report provided some food for thought for both doves and hawks predicting the outcome of next week's Fed meeting. The acceleration in hiring in August and downward revisions to previous data left the door open for a 25 or 50 bps rate cut in September. Inflation data released this week provided a clearer outlook,” Wells Fargo said.
“[Core CPI]rose 0.3% month-on-month in August, slightly above consensus expectations and the sharpest price increase in four months. While August's inflation spike was more likely a choppy increase than a trend reversal, the resilience of price increases may prompt FOMC members to be a bit more cautious on the downside,” Wells Fargo added.
Another notable event this week was the second presidential debate between Democratic candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump. Both candidates debated on a variety of topics and ultimately agreed that Harris won the debate.
Turning to the weekly performance of S&P 500 (SP500) sectors, all 11 sectors except Energy finished in the positive. Technology was up an astounding +7%, with other growth sectors Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services the top three gainers. See below for a breakdown of the performance of the sectors and associated SPDR Select Sector ETFs from the close on September 6th to the close on September 13th.
1st place: Information technology +7.33%Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (XLK) +8.10%.
2nd place: Consumer goods +6.14%and Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY). +5.53%.
3: Communication Services +4.27%Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLC) +3.70%.
#4: Industry +3.70%Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (XLI) +3.72%.
5th place: Real estate +3.41%and Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (XLRE) +3.62%.
#6: Utilities +3.38%Utility Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (XLU) +3.46%.
#7: Materials +3.16%Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (XLB) +3.11%.
#8: Healthcare +1.44%Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (XLV) +1.44%.
9th place: Daily necessities +1.11%and Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (XLP) +1.13%.
#10: Finance +0.48%Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (XLF) +0.50%.
#11: Energy -0.74%Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (XLE) -0.49%.
For investors who want to track the benchmark S&P 500 (SP500), there are several exchange-traded funds that may be of interest: (VOO), (IVV), (RSP), (SSO), (UPRO), (SH), (SDS), and (SPXU).
For investors keeping an eye on upcoming developments, check out Seeking Alpha Catalyst Watch for a breakdown of actionable events to watch next week.
