Every day in the financial media, we are inundated with numbers and statistics; “The market was up 1.2% today”, “The S&P hit an all-time high”, “The market had it worst 11 day period ever”, “The market had its best 3 day run in the last 40 years”….

U.S. equities logged modest gains last week and closed the week just off all-time highs as the monthly employment report for May continued to show progress in the healing of the labor market but fell short of expectations for the second month in a row. For the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.6%, while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.

Stocks climbed a little higher Friday to finish positive for the week, as optimism over the post-pandemic U.S. economic recovery drove the investment narrative heading into the Memorial Day weekend. Stocks moved up despite a 0.7% increase in the core personal consumption price gauge for April that was the biggest monthly gain since October 2001.

U.S. equities slid lower for a second straight week as investors assessed the potential for the Federal Reserve to begin scaling back accommodative policy at upcoming meetings amid continued robust U.S. economic data and rising prices.

The three major U.S. stock averages rallied in the last two sessions of the week as inflation fears eased from prior hand wringing, but it wasn’t enough to offset the drop from earlier in the week. On Friday, the Nasdaq rose 2.3%, the S&P 500 was up 1.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 1.1%.