Our Market Update for the 2nd Half of April 2021

For our article today, we will discuss our Market Update for the 2nd Half of May! May has been an active month for the market and it looks like it is going to stay that way moving into June so be sure to stay tuned by following our  Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also sign up you for notifications for our biweekly Market Movers Newsletter by sending us an email at [email protected] or visiting our blog every two weeks! Now, let’s see what moved the markets with our market update for the 2nd half of May!

Monday – May 17

  • Stocks edged lower following their worst week since February with the tech sector leading the market lower.
  • The May housing market index remains strong at 83, as expected, indicating that the market may still be red hot with a steady stream of buyers looking for homes. 
  • Investors are awaiting tomorrow’s new home starts and permits report for further details on this sector.

Tuesday – May 18

  • Stocks slipped back for a second straight day as investors seem indecisive about whether past week’s pullback was a fleeting rough patch or the start of a more protracted decline from record highs.
  • The housing market may be red hot, but new home starts are beginning to falter as housing starts fall well below economist expectations, due to rising labor and lumber costs.
  • Housing starts came in at 1.569 million, missing analyst expectations of 1.705 million.

Wednesday – May 19

  • The day began as a sea of red on Wallstreet, but the day ended way above its intraday lows.
  • The Dow Jones industrial Average had fallen nearly 600 points before ending the day down 164.
  • The bitcoin and cryptocurrency complex got crushed as China cracks down on crypto transactions, banning financial institutions from providing any services related to digital currencies.
  • Blockchain – heavy names like Tesla and Coinbase took a dive as a result.
  • Energy and materials led the market downward. 

Thursday – May 20

  • The broader market edged higher with all three major U.S. indices snapping their three-day losing streaks.
  • Jobless claims came in at the lowest number since the beginning of the pandemic.
  • Last week, only 444,000 new claims were filed, below consensus expectations of 460,000 new claims.
  • It should be noted that around 10 million Americans remain unemployed, despite job openings rising to record highs–in short, for one reason or another, the unemployed aren’t going for many of these newly opened jobs.
  • The Philly Fed Manufacturing Index, which has been relatively strong over the year, came in weak at 31.5 versus expectations of 45. 

Friday – May 21

  • The Dow rose for a second day, but tech came under pressure again with another drop in bitcoin price.
  • Bitcoin shook the markets earlier in the week with a 30% collapse after Chinese Vice Premier Liu warned about bitcoin mining and trading behavior, saying tighter regulation is needed to protect the financial system. 
  • Boosting sentiment was a gauge for U.S. manufacturing activity that surged to a record high this month. 
  • The manufacturing purchasing managers’ Index jumped to an all-time high of 61.5 in May from 60.5 in April. 

Monday – May 24

  • The broader market is starting the week on a positive note as all indexes are in the green and with the Dow climbing more than 200 points.
  • The indexes seem to be on a hot streak, notching the third straight day of gains, with tech–partly due to easing inflation fears–leading the rally.
  • Thematic tech themes however–cloud, 3d printing, etc.–have been lagging the overall market, though they’re mostly up today.

Tuesday – May 25

  • It was a fairly lackluster day compared to yesterday’s gains.
  • However, gold is up right near the highs for the year.
  • The price of existing homes jumped 1.6% month over month last March, according to the Case-Schiller Home Price Index amid rising inflation. This was more than the 1.1% figure that analysts had been anticipating.
  • Given the rising prices, new home sales decreased in April, as 863,000 homes were sold, far below the 955,000 expected.
  • Along with the decline in home sales, consumer confidence for May also took a hit–down 117.2 as compared with 119.5 expected.

Wednesday – May 26

  • Stocks were little changed today as the three major indices are still locked within their trading ranges for the month though the Dow and S&P 500 are nearing their all-time highs.
  • Note the activist shareholder-led battle going on within energy companies like Exxon, pushing energy companies to take on a more green-friendly approach toward climate change, adopting green technologies and shifting focus away from fossil fuels.
  • Mortgage applications are down -4.0% week over week despite sustained low rates. Last week, the composite was up 1.2%; the biggest drop is in refi applications, down -7.0% as compared with the previous week’s jump to 4.0%.
  • Interestingly, investment portfolio risk is up as the State Street investor confidence survey for May shows a rise to 97.9, up from last month’s 92.7. Risk on?

Thursday – May 27

  • The broader market ended the day fractionally higher with Wall Street stuck in something of a holding pattern.
  • Jobless claims are showing improvement with only 406,000 new claims versus the 450,000 claims expected. This was good enough to spark a little more optimism in the market as today’s figure hit a fresh pandemic low though remains well above pre-pandemic highs.
  • Durable goods “new orders” for the month of April took a jump back, down to -1.3% from the anticipated 0.7% gain.
  • S. GDP for Q1 came in at 6.4%, just slightly below economist consensus at 6.5%.
  • Pending home sales for April have sunk to -4.4%, in contrast to the growth expected at 2.0%.

Friday – May 28

  • The broader market is climbing as major averages appear to be headed for a winning week amid growing optimism over the U.S. economic recovery.
  • The core personal consumption (PCE) indicator–a key inflation barometer — rose 3.1% in April, faster than analyst expectations of 2.9%. However, it’s not as hot as Wall Street had feared. 
  • Last month’s savings rate, in the meantime, remained elevated at 14.9%, while consumer spending rose 0.5%, in line with consensus estimates.
  • Consumer sentiment, coming in at 82.9, was in line with analyst expectations, though on the lower end of the consensus range.

At FFR Trading, we pride ourselves on providing cutting edge strategies equipped to handle the modern market. Learn more about the strategies that we offer for forex, options, index futures, or commodities pages by visiting their corresponding pages or speaking with a member of our client care team by giving us a call at (800) 883-0524 or contacting us via email or our contact formThat concludes our Market Update for the 2nd Half of May! Happy trading, everyone!

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