The equity markets found firmer ground last week, while most domestic stock markets still came just short of positive territory. The S&P 500 ended the week, down -0.23, while the MSCI All Country World ex-USA was up 0.62. Bonds managed to end the week with gains.

U.S. equity markets were down sharply in this week’s early trading, as are global stock markets, as President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on top of existing Chinese tariffs.

After closing out another strong week of gains last week that pushed the S&P 500 to a new all-time high with a 1.8% advance, major U.S. equity indices are pulling back in this week’s early trading driven by a plunge in tech stocks levered to AI enthusiasm.

After a rocky start to the year, U.S. equity markets delivered the strongest weekly gain since the post-election rally in November 2024 in last week’s trading.

Strong labor numbers brought out the good news is bad news theme for the markets. High private payroll numbers combined with low initial jobless claims point to a continuing strong economy, which should be good news.