Winthrop Partners Weekly Update Dec 9, 2019

The Markets (as of market close December 6, 2019)

Market performance was uneven last week, culminating in some of the benchmark indexes closing in the black while a few lost value by week’s end. A strong jobs report and guarded optimism that progress will continue toward a resolution to the U.S./China trade war helped push stocks higher. The S&P 500 closed up less than 0.25%, while the small caps of the Russell 2000 gained over 0.50%. The Dow fell slightly, as did the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Year-to-date, the Nasdaq continues to lead the way, followed by the S&P 500, the Russell 2000, the Dow, and the Global Dow. Long-term government bond prices dipped pushing yields higher as investors were likely influenced by last week’s robust labor numbers.

Oil prices rose last week, closing at $59.12 per barrel by late Friday afternoon, up from the prior week’s price of $55.17. The price of gold (COMEX) inched lower last week, closing at $1,464.50 by late Friday afternoon, down from the prior week’s price of $1,465.60. The national average retail regular gasoline price was $2.575 per gallon on December 2, 2019, $0.004 less than the prior week’s price but $0.124 more than a year ago.  Click here for more:Winthrop Partners Weekly Update 12-9-19