The Stock Market Faced Some Volatility In Recent Days, But The S&P 500 (+1.8%) And Nasdaq (+2.0%) Were Able To Record Solid Gains For The Week While The Dow (+0.3%) Underperformed, Ending The Week Just Above Its Flat Line.
The Russell 2000 also lagged, shedding 0.4%. The S&P 500 battled with its 200‐day moving average since last Friday, but it was able to end the week above that mark after touching a six‐week high during the final session of the week.
Ten sectors ended the week in positive territory with energy (+7.4%), materials (+4.1%), and utilities (+3.5%) leading the way while health care (‐0.2%) recorded a slight loss after outperforming earlier this month.
Energy remained supported by crude oil, which gained $10.80 or 10.5% to end the week at $113.83/bbl. The ongoing Russia‐Ukraine conflict remained a supportive factor for oil and other commodities, explaining the outperformance in the materials sector where steelmakers and fertilizer producers led the way.
The week ended with reports of the potential for another release of oil from the strategic reserve while Chevron (CVX) reportedly received clearance to resume operations in Venezuela. On a related note, a Russian energy official reportedly said that friendly countries like China and Turkey could pay for oil and gas in rubles, domestic currency, and bitcoin while unfriendly countries would have to pay in rubles and/or gold.
The top‐weighted technology sector (+2.3%) finished the week ahead of the broader market, but it faced some pressure on Friday as Treasuries widened this week's losses, sliding to fresh lows for the year, after Citigroup forecast that the Fed will raise rates by 50 bps at the next four policy meetings. Both, the 2-year yield and the 10-year yield increased by 34 bps for the week to a respective 2.29% and 2.49%.