Market Update: How the Market Performed in the Third Week of September

It was evident that there was significant movement within the financial markets in the Third week of September 2024, due to economic and geopolitical factors with the availability of information and corporates’ earnings announcements. These factors are evident in the performance of major indices, bond yields, and commodity prices. Now let’s look how the markets performed during this crucial week for trading.

Equity Markets:

The share markets in the U. S. had a mixed week, and most of the leading stock market indices were up and down. The S&P 500 ended the week with fairly moderate appreciations, which is somewhat indicative of the optimism that prevails in the market. It advanced by about 0. 6%, mainly on the back of favourable economic indicators and strong performance from several sectors which form the backbone of the economy. Technology was among the best performers the fact being that most of the large technology companies delivered better than expected results.

On the other hand, Dow Jones Industrial Average was a percent down to around 0. 3%. The decline has been blamed on the poor showing in industrial and consumer cyclical segments due to persistent disruption in supply chains and reduced consumer expenditures. Technology oriented Nasdaq composite was up by 1 percent higher than other indices, but it was more heavily weighted. 2 percent, as ‘‘tech’ stocks again rode the wave up.

Bond Markets:

In the bond market the yields on U. S. Treasury securities identified some fluctuations. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was a little higher to rise to 4. personally it would be around 3% by the end of the week due to the anticipation of further increase in interest rates by the federal fund rate by the Federal Reserve. Because of improving economic outlook pointing to the fact that the economy is still very healthy, this led to an increase in yields partly as markets may start to factor in more rate hikes from the Fed in the future.

Even short-term yields rose higher which is perhaps as a result of the market expectation of higher rates. It has been suggested that the yield curve has flattened a little more than it was in the previous month which may mean that further economic upheavals are expected in the future.

Commodity Markets:

A Commodity markets as we have seen they went up with the prices of oil maintaining the upward trend. WTI crude oil reach to the $92 per barrel due to supply side factors and political instabilities in Middle East region. This rise was however compounded by production hitches as well as further concerns on the political stability of these eminent oil producing regions.

On the other hand, the gold prices reduced marginally to $1,945 per ounce even though these prices surpassed expectations. The decline in gold prices was due to the surge of the greenback and an increase in bond yields making gold a nonfavorite safe-haven asset.

Economic Data and Geopolitical Influences:

Market sentiment during the week was significantly influenced by some economic data released. The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said that US economy added jobs at a faster pace, up 300,000 in August in its nonfarm payrolls report. This report affirmed the durability of the labor market and at the same time created expectations of sooner than later increase in the interest rate by the Federal Reserve.

Political situations, especially the recent escalation of tensions in Eastern Europe and trade relations with key world partners contributed to volatility in the markets. These products attracted interest among investors and due to these occurrences the equity and commodity markets remained so volatile.

Conclusion:

The week of ending September 2024, was a week that offered a glimpse of a market that is forced to adapt to an economy that delivers both positive and negative data for corporate earnings and geopolitical risks. Although, equity had stability in volatility while technology stocks also proved to be quite immune to the situation, yields of bonds and commodity prices did depict some anticipations about future economic environments. While forecasting ahead to the next releases of such indicators and further geopolitical events that may cause shifts in trends in the near future investors will stay tuned.