For the week ended 11/30/24.
Welcome back from your Thanksgiving feasts and let's get right to it. First off, domestic stocks turned in another solid week with the S&P 500 Index rising 1.1%, bringing the gain for
November to 5.9%. This represents the best monthly performance so far in 2024. Domestic bonds rose last week as well, returning 1.4%. But thanks to persistent underlying inflation
trends and the election last month, YTD bonds remain the worst-performing asset class.
With the cadence and absolute scale of further rate cuts in doubt, it may be best to continue under-allocating or outright avoiding traditional fixed-income for a while. As has been said many times before, don't fight the Fed when it comes to bond investing. A reference point: the 10-year Treasury is yielding 4.2% while the 1-month T-bill is at 4.8%.
As we head into the last weeks of the year, it may help to remember the markets have been propelled by the hopes of rate cuts and investors’ appetite for risk given the changing of the guard in January. Should any number of variables alter this narrative, then expect more volatility. Have a good week.
Interesting data point of the week.
Source: Visual Capitalist
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