Market Briefings

After a strong rally in the stock market in the last several weeks, markets have been pulling back in recent sessions. Market corrections are typical, especially after a 25% rally in the S&P 500 over the past six months, but the tone in the markets in seems to have shifted.

Markets got off to a shaky start to the week and the second quarter, as strong economic readings raised concerns about if and when the Fed will be able to start cutting rates.

The narrow market leadership over the past 12 months has captured investors' enthusiasm around an elite group of mega-cap tech stocks known as the Magnificent 7 - NVIDIA, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Tesla.

Last week, the Federal Reserve held its March FOMC meeting and press conference and also released an updated set of economic projections. The Fed left the fed funds rate on hold at 5.25% - 5.5%, but its updated "dot plot" still pointed to three rate cuts in 2024.

The major U.S. stock indexes slipped for the second week in a row, as the market’s strong daily gain on Tuesday was offset by declines later in the week.