U.S. equity markets continued to push higher this past week as the economic growth outlook lifted further on the back of the strong March employment report and positive service sector data. For the week, the S&P 500 notched its third consecutive weekly gain with a 2.8% return, while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq Composite advanced by 2.0% and 3.1%, respectively.

The holiday-shortened week saw tech stocks back in favor after a first quarter where cyclical and value plays led the market. The Nasdaq, which trailed the major averages in Q1, gained 2.6% for the week, topping the S&P’s gain of 1.4% and the Dow, up 0.2%. Stocks are off to a solid start this year, but the performance of the major indexes has been decidedly uneven.

Despite an eventful week with a large segment of global trade stalled by a massive cargo ship stuck in the Suez Canal and the unwinding of an overleveraged hedge fund, equity markets broadly were undeterred with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones pushing to new all-time highs last week. Positive investor sentiment was aided by encouraging news on the vaccine rollout and the Federal Reserve’s decision to end restrictions on dividends and buybacks for U.S. banks.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones bounced back from early losses to finish lower Friday while the Nasdaq ended higher as investors bought the dip in tech shares. The Federal Reserve (Fed) kept its policy rate unchanged at 0.00 – 0.25%, but also upgraded its near-term economic growth to 6.5% for 2021 GDP.

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