May 19, 2017 Weekly Market Recap

After opening the week with a record-high close, equities took a hit midweek after an article in the New York Times highlighted a potential obstruction of justice move by President Trump. However, the bulk of Wednesday’s loss was retraced in the second half of the week as a ‘buy the dip’ mentality set in. The S&P 500 ended the week lower by 0.4%.

Crude oil was a focal point on Monday, jumping 2.1% to $48.86/bbl, on news that the world’s top two oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, are in favor of extending the original OPEC/non-OPEC supply cut agreement, which is currently scheduled to end in June, by another nine months. The commodity’s positive performance helped the benchmark index climb 0.5% to a fresh all-time high.

The major averages ended the second session of the week little changed, but a solid performance from mega-cap names like Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) pushed the Nasdaq to another record high.

On Wednesday, equities suffered their worst one-day decline since September following a New York Times article that claimed President Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to shut down the Bureau’s investigation of former National Security adviser Michael Flynn. The S&P 500 settled Wednesday’s session with a loss of 1.8%. However, the bearish sentiment didn’t last long as investors ‘bought the dip’ on Thursday.

The major U.S. indices ended the week on a positive note with the S&P 500 adding 0.7%. The Friday session had a risk-on feel to it with cyclical sectors showing relative strength, Treasuries ticking down, and the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) dropping over two points. Crude oil came back into focus once again, jumping 2.0% to $50.33/bbl, following reports that top oil producers will consider increasing the size of the OPEC/non-OPEC production cut when they meet on May 25.

The fed funds futures market still points to the June FOMC meeting as the most likely time for the next rate-hike announcement with an implied probability of 78.5%, unchanged from last week’s 78.5%.

Source: Briefing Investor