Market Commentary, 06/12/17

The major US benchmarks ended the week mixed. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65 points to close at 21,271, up 0.3%. The S&P 500 was down just over 7 points to end the week at 2,431, a decline of 0.3%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite index declined for the first time in three weeks, giving up 1.5% to close at 6,207.

In US Economic news, jobless claims remained near their lowest level in decades as the number of Americans seeking new unemployment benefits fell again last week. According to the Labor Department, initial jobless claims dropped to 245,000 for the week ending June 3. Initial claims count the number of people applying for first time unemployment benefits. New applications for benefits have registered less than 300,000, the threshold used by analysts to indicate a healthy jobs market, for 118 consecutive weeks. Continuing claims, the number of people already receiving benefits, fell to 1.92 million. Continuing claims have been under 2 million for eight straight weeks, a record not seen since 1973-74.

The services sector of the US economy continued to grow at a rapid pace according to the latest reading of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) nonmanufacturing index. In manufacturing, the Commerce Department reported that new orders for U.S. made goods fell 0.2% in April, its first decline in five months. Year-to-date, orders are up 4.4% over the same time last year. Services account for roughly 70% of US GDP, while manufacturing is responsible for about 12%.

Both the Dow and S&P 500 hit intraday all-time highs on Friday, of 21,305.35 and 2,446.20 respectively. We continue to see the market rise, with the increase most likely due to positive economic data and expected pro-growth policies.

Regards,

Jeremiah Patterson, CFP®
Copelin Financial Advisors
514 Brooks Street
Sugar Land, TX 77478
Phone: 281 240-2902
Fax: 281 240-2856
jeremiah@copelinfinancial.com

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