While all three indexes managed to notch better weeks than their last, only the Nasdaq managed to close in positive territory after the last five trading sessions. That index finished the week up 0.3%. The Dow ended the week down 0.5%, while the S&P 500 finished Friday’s trading off by about 0.4%.
The Dow remains the only index with a gain for the month of May, up just shy of 1%. Goldman Sachs, Boeing and UnitedHealth led blue-chip names higher to end the week.
To Tom Essaye, editor of The Sevens Report, investors are still keen for greater clarity on when inflation may force the Federal Reserve to begin telegraphing a future interest-rate hike, as well as a reduction to its regular asset purchases.
“Going forward, we will all be very, very tired of the word tapering by November, but it is the next major unknown in this market and it will determine whether we see stocks grind higher to 4,500 (or more) or we see a reversal below 4,000,” he wrote on Friday, referring to the S&P 500.
