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On Wednesday the Federal Reserve announced its March rate decision. As expected, the Fed kept interest rates steady in a range between 5.25 percent and 5.5 percent.  Of course, the rate announcement itself wasn’t what the market was eager to hear. Instead, it wanted to learn from Fed Chair Jerome Powell and hear what he had to say about the future of interest rate cuts. According to Powell, the Fed is still planning on cutting rates three times in 2024, which would see the prime rate reduced by 75 basis points over the next 8 months.

However, what likely stood out to most market participants was what he had to say about economic reports from the previous two months. Essentially, he downplayed them during his press conference and indicated that there was confidence that inflation rates would head back to 2 percent in a timely manner.

Of course, the Fed announcement wasn’t the only important news. On Thursday, unemployment benefit claim figures were released and revealed that 210,000 requests were made for benefits in the past seven days. This was slightly lower than the projected 212,000.

In addition, Flash Services PMI and Flash Manufacturing PMI data was made available. The Flash Services PMI came in at 51.7 percent compared to a projected 52 percent while the Flash Manufacturing PMI came in at 52.5 percent compared to a projected 51.8 percent. These figures suggest that both the services and manufacturing sectors are growing albeit slower than expected.

Finally, it was revealed that 4.38 million existing homes were sold throughout the country in February. This was compared to an expected 3.95 million and was significantly higher than last month’s reading.

The S&P 500 was up 1.33 percent this week to close at 5,234. On Tuesday, the market made its low of the week at 5,136 before shooting up to a high of 5,255 on Thursday afternoon. For the month, the S&P is up 2.58 percent and is up 10.36 percent year-to-date.

The Nasdaq finished higher this week up 1.27 percent to close at 16,428. The Nasdaq would trade mostly sideways prior to Wednesday’s news announcement before shooting up to a weekly high of 16,344 by Thursday’s open. The weekly low was 15,972, which occurred on Tuesday morning. For the year, the Nasdaq has increased 11.26 percent

The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.71 percent during the past five trading days to finish at 39,475. On Tuesday, the market made its low of the week at 38,787 while it would make a high of 39,858 on Thursday. The index has returned 4.67 percent in 2024.

There were several announcements made overseas that could have an impact on American financial policy going forward. Late Monday, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced that it would increase its key interest rate to .1 percent from negative .1 percent. Also on Monday, Australia’s central bank announced that it would keep its key interest rate at 4.35 percent.

The Bank of Canada (BOC) announced on Tuesday that inflation came in lower than expected on both an annualized and monthly basis. Switzerland’s central bank on Thursday cut the country’s interest rate from 1.75 percent to 1.5 percent, which may portend the beginning of a rate cut cycle throughout the globe.

This upcoming trading week will be truncated by the Good Friday holiday. The CB Consumer Confidence report will be released Tuesday. On Wednesday night, FOMC member Waller will be speaking. Thursday sees the release of monthly pending home sales figures. The revised University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment report will also be issued on Thursday along with unemployment claims and final GDP numbers for the fourth quarter of 2023.

The past week provided a lot of intrigue and plot twists for investors as several important data points were revealed. On Tuesday, the inflation data for February was released, coming in a touch hotter than expected. Although overall monthly inflation was in-line with expectations, Core CPI was .4 percent, which was higher than the .3 percent expected by analysts prior to the news release. Annual inflation was also higher than expected as analysts believed annual inflation was 3.1 percent in February.

As a result, bond yields rose during the 10-year Treasury note auction that was held Tuesday afternoon. The highest yield was 4.17 percent compared to 4.09 percent the last time that the 10-year bond auction occurred. It was also the highest yield for this type of bond in 2024. However, the 30-year bond auction on Wednesday saw a high of 4.33 percent, which was slightly lower than the 4.36 percent recorded last month.

On Thursday, retail sales and price producer index (PPI) data was released. Retail sales were up .6 percent compared to an expected increase of .8 percent over the past month. Core retail sales were up .3 percent compared to an expected increase of .5 percent. However, prices accelerated faster than expected in February with Core PPI coming in at .3 percent compared to an expected .2 percent increase. Meanwhile, the overall PPI figure came in at .6 percent compared to an expected increase of .3 percent.

Unemployment claims data for the past seven days was also released on Thursday. There were 209,000 requests for benefits made during that time period compared to an expected 218,000. This week’s figure was also slightly lower than last week’s revised figure of 210,000.

On Friday, the Empire State Manufacturing Index was released and came in at negative 20.9. That figure was significantly lower than the expected negative seven, and it was also the fourth straight month in which the index indicated a decline in manufacturing.

Finally, the University of Michigan released its consumer sentiment and inflation expectation reports. Consumer sentiment came in at 76.5 percent while inflation was expected to be at 3 percent a year from now.

The S&P 500 finished the week up 5.78 points to close at 5,117. This was a .11 percent increase over the past five trading days that saw the market rally between Monday and Wednesday before reversing. On Wednesday, the market made a weekly high of 5,177 before making a weekly low of 5,105 on Friday morning. The S&P is up a little over 2 percent this month and is up 7.89 percent year-to-date.

Unlike the S&P, the Nasdaq was down this week finishing 82.43 points lower to close at 15,973. This represented a drop of .51 percent over the past five trading days. As with the S&P, the Nasdaq began the week on a high note before peaking on Tuesday, reversing on Wednesday and making a low on Friday. The weekly high was 16,266 while the weekly low was 15,927. Year-to-date, the Nasdaq has returned 8.18 percent.

The Dow was able to make it two out of three major indices to finish in profit for the week. It finished up 63.79 points to close at 38,714, which was an increase of .17 percent from the previous week. The index would make its high of the week on Wednesday peaking at 39,135 while making a low of the week on Friday of 38,622. Year-to-date, the index has returned 2.65 percent.

In international news, Japan announced on Monday that its PPI was up .6 percent on an annualized basis. There were also reports this week that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) may be ready to abandon its policy of negative interest rates. Great Britain announced on Tuesday that its monthly GDP improved to .2 percent from negative .1 percent a month ago.

This upcoming week will feature important news reports from the United States and other developed economies. On Wednesday, the Fed will make its March rate decision while Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to speak on Friday. Japan and Australia will make interest rate decisions sometime on Monday or Tuesday. Meanwhile, Canada will be releasing its inflation data on Tuesday while a multitude of releases will come out across the Eurozone on Thursday.

The first full week in March was a consequential one as the nonfarm payroll (NFP) was released on Friday. However, it was far from the only important news that came out over the past five trading days.

On Tuesday, the ISM Services PMI was released and revealed a slight slowdown in service sector demand. The March report came in at 52.6 percent, which was slightly lower than the projected 53 percent before the news was released and was also just below the 53.4 percent from last month. Essentially, the number means that service demand is still growing, though not at as fast a pace.

A pair of important new reports were released on Wednesday with the Job Openings Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) revealing that there were 8.86 million positions available in February. This was roughly in line with what analysts expected and just below the 8.89 million openings in January.

Also on Wednesday, the ADP nonfarm payroll report was made public. It found that the economy added 140,000 jobs in February compared to an expected 149,000. However, this was still an increase from the 111,000 jobs added in January.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave prepared remarks on Wednesday and said that the path to 2 percent inflation would likely be a bumpy one. However, he also said that rate cuts would likely be appropriate in the near future if the economy continued to evolve as expected. He expressed a similar sentiment in another speech given on Thursday morning.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the more anticipated NFP. It found that there were 275,000 jobs added to the economy in February, which was much higher than the 198,000 projected. Furthermore, it was revealed that the unemployment rate had gone up to 3.9 percent and average hourly earnings on a monthly basis had gone up by .1 percent. It was expected that the unemployment rate would be 3.7 percent and that average hourly earnings would have increased by .2 percent.

The Dow lost 258 points this week to finish at 38,722. It would make a weekly high of 39,064 on Monday before dipping to a low of 38,474 on Tuesday. Despite the losses this week, the Dow is still up 2.67 percent for the year.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 lost 7.51 points to finish at 5,123 for the week. It would hit a weekly low of 5,056 on Tuesday before rebounding and making a high of 5,187 on Friday morning. The S&P has gained 8.03 percent in 2024.

Finally, the Nasdaq would also give back some of its gains this week finishing 155 points lower to close at 16,085. The market made a low of 15,869 on Tuesday and a high of 16,429 on Friday. As with the other markets, the Nasdaq is up 8.93 percent this year.

In overseas news, Switzerland reported on Monday that inflation rose to .6 percent on a monthly basis. On Tuesday, Australia reported gross domestic product growth of .2 percent in the past quarter. The Bank of Canada decided to hold its interest rate steady at 5 percent on Wednesday. On Friday, the BOC announced that the country’s unemployment rate was still 5.8 percent although more than 40,000 jobs were added in the last month.

The upcoming week will see the release of inflation figures. Price, retail sale and unemployment claim data are all set to be released on Thursday while the Empire State Manufacturing Index will be made public on Friday. The University of Michigan will also release its preliminary sentiment and inflation expectation data for the month.