The Stock Market Closed This Holiday-Shortened Week With Losses, But Closed This Month With Solid Gains.
Mega cap stocks had an outsized impact on index performance through the month, especially NVIDIA, which jumped 26.9% in May.
The equal-weighted S&P 500 gained 2.8% this month, versus a 4.8% gain in the market-cap weighted S&P 500. This week, however, the index logged a 0.5% decline.
The downside bias this week was driven by some normal consolidation activity after the big run this month.
Market participants had a slate of earnings news to get through this week, including from retailers like Best Buy, Foot Locker, Kohl's, and Dollar General. Dow component Salesforce was a losing standout following disappointing quarterly results, leading CRM to close 13.9% lower than last Friday.
In other corporate news, ConocoPhillips will acquire Marathon Oil in an all-stock transaction.
The market also received a mixed batch of economic reports, highlighted by Friday's release of the April Personal Income and Spending report. The key takeaway from the report is that the year-over-year PCE inflation rates did not worsen; however, they did not improve either, so it seems unlikely that the Fed would find any new confidence in this report that inflation is moving sustainably toward its 2% target.
Treasuries settled mixed this week in response to the data and in response to some poorly received Treasury sales. This week's $69 billion 2-yr note, $70 billion 5-yr note, and $44 billion 7-yr note sales met weak demand.
The 10-yr note yield rose five basis points this week to 4.51% and the 2-yr note yield declined six basis points to 4.89%.
S&P 500: -0.5% for the week / +4.8% for the month /+10.6% YTD
Nasdaq Composite: -1.1% for the week / +6.9% for the month /+11.5% YTD
S&P Midcap 400: +0.2% for the week / +4.3% for the month /+7.2% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average: -2.3% for the week / +2.3% for the month /+2.6% YTD
Russell 2000: UNCH for the week / +4.9% for the month / +2.1% YTD