Closing Thoughts for the Week

As has been the case throughout the past year, it’s the jobs market that’s helped pull investors out of the recession doldrums. The developments over this past week could balance out conditions and even turn them positive in the near-term. The one thing that the latest jobs report also probably did is put a bearish tone into the Treasury market.

The equity markets have been riding the coattails of mega-cap growth stocks in 2023. If you look beyond those names, however, the market results last week weren’t nearly as positive. A broader look at the markets suggest that earnings didn’t really lift sentiment all that much, if at all. The one trend worth watching here is continued weakness from the consumer.

With a number of economic signals already flashing warnings, the debt ceiling fight in Congress is starting to get the spotlight. The markets did have a bit more of a risk-off feel to them during the latter half of the week, but it wasn’t a big shift in sentiment. I still believe this is the time where we need to be on correction watch.