Last week ended on a high note as the S&P 500 reclaimed the 6000 level. The market was led by the mega-caps with Tesla being a notable exception. The S&P 500 gained 1.5% while the Nasdaq surged by 2.2%. Small-caps outperformed their larger brethren with the Russell 2000 gaining 3.2%.
The communication services (+3.2%), information technology (+3.0%), and energy (+2.2%) sectors were the best-performing sectors this week. The consumer staples (-1.6%), utilities (-1.1%), and consumer discretionary (-0.6%) sectors were the only sectors that did not show a gain for the week
It was a week with many market moving headlines. President Trump and President Xi had a phone call that served to ease market fears over a trade war and resulted in the two sides arranging a meeting on June 9th. Treasury Secretary Bessent, Commerce Secretary Lutnick, and U.S. Trade Representative Greer, will meet in London with representatives from China to negotiate a trade deal. On Friday, the May Jobs Report easily surpassed the market’s worst fears, as nonfarm payrolls came in slightly ahead of expectations and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%.
The most dramatic headlines of the week revolved around a very public spat between President Trump and Elon Musk. Mr. Musk came out strongly against the Republican’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” saying it would increase the budget deficit. This argument between Trump and Musk triggered a 14.3% decline in Tesla’s stock price.