Weekly Update

The stock market rally took a breather last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, the S&P 500 index dipped 0.1%, the Nasdaq fell 1.1% and the Russell 2000 slumped 2.5%. U.S. labor data came in mixed on April 7th. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 236,000, just below estimates for 240,000 and down from February’s revised 326,000. Private payrolls rose just 189,000, well below views for 223,000. However, unemployment dipped to 3.5%, back to long-term lows. The labor force participation rate climbed to a post-Covid high of 62.6%. Hourly earnings rose 0.3% vs. February, in line.