- U.S. equities were punished amid signs that the Federal Reserve may still face a bumpy path ahead in their fight against inflation. Friday’s close resulted in the third consecutive quarterly decline for the S&P 500, which is the first time this has happened since 2009.
- Each day last week resulted in market pullbacks aside from Wednesday’s rally following the surprise decision by the Bank of England to purchase long-dated U.K. government bonds. Equity volatility represented by the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) remained elevated week-over-week.
- All S&P 500 sectors were lower last week aside from energy which boasted a small price increase. Utilities and technology stocks saw sizable losses of nearly 9% and 4% respectively. Within the consumer discretionary sector, Nike announced future price markdowns after the company reported a 44% jump in inventories last quarter. Amazon declared a second “Prime Day” on October 11th-12th to increase revenue approaching year-end and the all-important holiday sales time.
- Small-cap growth stocks had a small weekly gain while all other size and style segments were lower as shown in the above matrix. Large-cap stocks fell by under 3% lower across the board.
