Last week, the major US indices continued to renew their all-time highs. The S&P 500 ended Friday’s trading session at 4,352 points, while the Nasdaq 100 reached 14,728 points. Since the beginning of the year, both indices have added 16.3% and 14.4%, respectively. However, in June, the dynamics of the tech index was better. The indicator added 3.7%, up from 1.3% in the S&P 500. The rally in equity markets in recent days is due in part to easing worries about accelerating inflation amid the economic recovery from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The market was also supported during the week by statistical data and the rise in oil prices, which contributed to the rise in the shares of energy companies. OPEC + ministerial talks onoil production levels from August have been postponed to Monday. According to media reports, allcountries support an increase in oil production since August, except for the UAE, which insists on changing its reference base for a decline in production from 3.168 to 3.8 million b / d.
Statistics released Thursday showed that US jobless claims fell to their lowest since the start of the pandemic. The US ISM Manufacturing Index fell to 60.6 points in June from 61.2 points in the previous month, according to data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). This is the lowest level in the last five months. Analysts on average were expecting a cut to 61 points, TradingEconomics reported. The chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) of Richmond, Tom Barkin, said yesterday that the situation in the American labor market, in his opinion, will significantly improve by the end of the summer. Barkin said temporary factors, such as people’s concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, the limited work of childcare facilities, and expectations of an increase in the minimum wage in the United States, are limiting the recovery of the labor market.
Important data on the US labor market for June was released on Friday. The number of jobs in the US economy in June increased by 850 thousand, at a maximum rate in 10 months, according to data from the Department of Labor. Large-scale vaccinations against COVID-19, as well as budgetary incentives, are helping to restore the American economy and the labor market. Yet employers across the country are complaining that they cannot fill open positions as many Americans are in no rush to go to work. Some of them take advantage of the fact that during the pandemic, the country’s authorities increased unemployment benefits, others are forced to stay at home with their children due to the limited work of children’s institutions. Labor market data are key to the policy of the Federal Reserve System along with inflation indicators. It will largely depend on the dynamics of employment when the Fed begins to roll back the large-scale incentives introduced at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.
American markets will be closed on Monday to celebrate Independence Day. In general, the weekwill not be loaded with macroeconomic statistics. On Wednesday, the minutes of the June Fed meeting will be published, as well as a speech by Atlanta Fed President Rafael Bostic. On Friday inVenice will open a meeting of finance ministers and heads of central banks of the G20 countries, dedicated to the global minimum corporate tax.