- U.S. equity indices were mostly lower throughout the week despite a wide dispersion within sectors. The Federal Reserve’s likely future actions to combat elevated inflation along with the situation in Ukraine weighed on investors’ sentiment.
- Within the S&P 500 Index, more defensive health care, consumer staples, and energy sectors outperformed after each rose by a few percent. On the contrary, the communication services, consumer discretionary, and technology sectors had meaningful declines. Notably, all FAANG+M stocks declined a few percent. Meta Platforms led the group of mega-caps after it only fell by 1%.
- On last Monday it was announced the world’s richest person and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, had recently purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter stock which sent the social media company’s stock soaring. It was then announced he would have a seat on Twitter’s board of directors although the situation continues to evolve. It’s not yet known what his intentions are for these moves but his use of the platform in the past has not appeased regulators including the SEC.
- Although nearly all segments of the size and style matrix were negative, large-cap stocks outperformed small-caps and value modestly led growth.
