Markets Over the Last Week

Markets took a breather this week after coming off strong gains the previous week.

The Dow (DJI) was the only major index that eked out a small gain of 0.12% while the S&P 500 (SPX), NASDAQ 100 (NDX), and the IWM – which is an Exchange Traded Fund(ETF) that tracks the Russell 2000 small cap index were down -0.27%, -0.27%, and -0.97%, respectively.

The losses were due to hawkish Fed narratives by James Bullard, President of the St. Louis Federal Reserve. Bullard states, “The policy rate is not yet in a zone that may be considered sufficiently restrictive.”

The market is still trying to figure out where the Fed is going with rates and when this hiking cycle will pause.