The three major U.S. stock indexes closed Friday to post their second consecutive week of gains. The two-week rally came even as investors weighed the war in Ukraine and the Federal Reserve's rate hiking cycle. A slew of Wall Street firms this week upped their forecasts for the size of rate hikes — including Citi on Friday calling for four half-percentage-point hikes starting in May. |
"The Fed is really going to shift its focus to very aggressive inflation fighting, so I think surprises are still to the upside for what the Fed is going to be doing," Yung-Yu Ma, BMO Wealth Management's chief investment strategist, said.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield shot up to 2.5% at its highs Friday, the highest level since May 2019. The rising rates lifted bank stocks, which were among the outperformers Friday. |
