What happened in the U.S markets in the last week?

MARKET Friday’s Close Week’s Change % Change Year-to-Date
DJIA 16583.34 70.45 0.04%
S&P 500 1878.48 -2.66 1.63%
NASDAQ Composite 4071.87 -52.03 -2.51%
S&P MidCap 400 1352.87 -9.19 0.77%
Russell 2000 1106.14 -22.91 -4.94%

What happened in the U.S markets in the last week?

  1. In general, U.S economic data was positively affected the markets:
  • Markit Composite PMI rose to 55.6 in April from 54.9% in March
  • Trade deficit fell to $40.4B in March from $41.9B in February. This small decline can lead a downward revision in U.S 1st quarter GDP forecasts.
  • Weekly Jobless Claims decrease to 319.000 from 345.000,but the four-week moving average rose 4,500 to 324,750.
  • ISM Non-manufacturing index rose  55.2 in April from 53.1 in March.
  1. Eurozone economic data was negatively affected the markets in general:
  • Eurozone Producer Price Index was unchanged in monthly basis, but it declined to 1.6% in March from 1.7% in February in yearly basis.
  • Eurozone Markit Composite PMI showed no change in April, and was reported as 54.0.
  • Eurozone Retail Sales rose by 0.3% in March from 0.1% increase in February. Expectations were 0.2% decline.
  • German economy slowed down in March since its industrial production decreased by 0.5% and exports fell by 1.8% in March.
  1. European Central Bank (ECB) left the interest rate at 0.25%, but ECB President Mario Draghi explained that the central bank would probably take some action, such as cutting interest rates or introducing a new stimulus plan, at ECB’s June Meeting. Note that overall weakness in Eurozone economy still continues.
  1. China’s HSBC Manufacturing PMI Index fell to 48.1 in April from 48.3 in March. In addition, exports rose by 0.9% in April (YoY) and imports rose  by 0.8% (YoY). As result, trade balance increased to $18.46B in April from $7.7B.
  1. Japan’s Markit/JMMA Composite PMI fell to 46.3 in April from 52.8 in March.