Weekly Review (April 15-19)

STOCKS

Wall Street stocks were mostly lower during the week to finish mostly in negative territory on Thursday as investors continued to give up on hopes that the Federal Reserve will deliver a cut to interest rates in June amid strong economic data. By the way, a fresh report showed that fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than expected in another sign that the job market remains resilient despite elevated interest rates. As such, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% to mark a fifth straight loss, which is the longest losing streak since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.5%. In Asia, equities plunged on Friday as risk aversion intensified after Israel launched a retaliatory strike on Iran less than a week after Tehran’s rocket and drone attack. Leading losses in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slumping 2.5% on aggressive selling of semiconductor-related shares.