This is our weekly market update where we start in the US, cross to Europe and Asia and end in Australia, covering commodities and crypto along the way.
When UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was asked what was the greatest challenge for a statesman, he replied: ‘events, dear boy, events’.
This is highly relevant to this week’s market review, because they were whipsawed through the trading day asking what is a negotiating gambit and what is a serious policy proposal. After opening higher, they sank mid-session during a public berating of Ukrainian President Zelensky by President Trump and Vice President Vance at the White House. Zelensky is “not ready for Peace if America is involved,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social afterwards.
But, US investors shook off the volatility through mid-afternoon and then pushed still higher leading into the closing bell so that all three US benchmarks rallied, with financials leading all 11 of the S&P 500 industry sectors higher. As a result, The S&P 500 climbed 1.59% The NASDAQ gained 1.63%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.39%. The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.10% to 19.63.
Across the week, the Dow was up 0.95%, the S&P 500 was down 0.98% and the NASDAQ was down 3.47%. Both NVIDIA and Tesla rallied to finish the week, rising 4 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively, but were still down 7% and 13% for the week. Shares of NVIDIA which reported earnings late Wednesday, swung to losses as investors focused on signs of increased AI spending in the industry.
The MSCI global index was up 0.66% on Friday, but still down 1.33% for the week, while the STOXX 600 European index was up another 0.6% across the week after touching a record high on Wednesday. Australia’s ASX 200 rounded off earnings season on a negative note, slipping 1.2 per cent, to post its second consecutive month of losses, tumbling 4.2 per cent in February wiping out all gains this year.
The level of uncertainly across markets is reaching fever pitch, and we can expect to see more volatility as the world order is shifting under our feet. On Tuesday I will be discussing the implications for investors with Damien Klassen from Nucleus Wealth on my live show. One not to miss!
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