Broad Street Rally

Detailed analysis below...

The S&P 500 moved back towards record highs to end last week as investors cheered Fed Chair Powell’s Jackson Hole speech. 

The gains were broad based, with Small Caps outperforming Large Caps and the Equal Weighted S&P 500 index outpacing its Market Cap Weighted counterpart. 

In traditional late August fashion, trading activity was light throughout the week (volumes tracked -12% vs 20dma on Fri).  On Friday, stocks jumped following the release of the text of Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole. Some of the key quotes the market reacted to below:

FED’S POWELL: “THE TIME HAS COME FOR POLICY TO ADJUST”

POWELL: “WE DON’T SEEK OR WELCOME FURTHER LABOR MARKET COOLING”

POWELL: “MY CONFIDENCE HAS GROWN THAT INFLATION IS ON PATH TO 2%”

POWELL: “TIMING, PACE OF CUTS TO DEPEND ON DATA, OUTLOOK, RISKS”