EQUITY MARKETS

US

S&P500  +0.96%(2,439.07); NASDAQ  +1.54% (6,305.80); DJIA  +0.60% (21,206.29)

This week’s reports:

® May’s Unemployment Rate fell to 4.3% from April’s 4.4% as Non-Farm Payrolls rose 138K from April’s 174K. Labor Force Participation fell to 62.7% from April’s 62.9%.

® May’s Average Weekly Hours remained unchanged from April’s 34.4.  Average Hourly Earnings rose by 0.2%, the same as in April. 

® April’s Personal Income rose 0.4% from March’s +0.2%. Personal Spending rose 0.4% from March’s +0.3%.

® May’s Markit Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.7 from April’s 52.5.

® May’s ISM Manufacturing Index rose to 54.9 from April’s 54.8.

® May’s Chicago PMI jumped to 59.4 from April’s 58.3.

® March’s S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices rose 5.9% y/y, the same as in February.

® April’s Pending Home Sales fell 1.3% from March’s -0.9%.

® Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending May 26^th rose by 13K to 248K. Continuing Jobless Claims for the week ending May 19^th fell by 9K to 1,915K.

• US stocks rose to fresh records as technology shares extended a rally. The latest jobs report offered mixed signals on the strength of the American labor market, but is unlikely to deter the Federal Reserve from increasing interest rates in two weeks as the economy continues to grind higher even as Washington shows few signs of moving forward with tax and spending reforms. Global equities have advanced more than 10% this year to set fresh records as data showed growth in the world’s largest economy is intact.

Canada

S&P/TSX Composite  +0.17% (15,442.75)

• Canada’s benchmark index is the second-worst-performer in the developed world, as investors remain concerned about geopolitical risks such as US trade protectionism, the outlook for oil prices and a housing market that some analysts say may be on the verge of a correction.
• Q1 2017 GDP Growth Annualized was 3.7%, up from Q4 2016’s 2.7% and the highest among G7 economies.
• May’s Markit Manufacturing PMI fell to 55.1 from April’s 55.9.

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