While U.S. equities and stock exchange traded funds were mostly flat ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, the markets are on track for their largest weekly gain in almost a month.
“We’ve reached new highs and we expect days of strong gains. Investors may be taking a breather as we head into the holiday weekend,” Emily Roland, head of investment research at John Hancock Investments, told Reuters.
The S&P 500 Index, along with related funds including the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY), iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV) and Vanguard 500 Index (NYSEArca: VOO), were unchanged Friday and on pace to close the week up 1.4% after the broad benchmark marked its 19th record closing high of the year Thursday.
“We’ve had a strong start to the year, but the question is, is this the calm before the storm?” Allen Bond, portfolio manager of the Jensen Quality Growth Fund, asked the Wall Street Journal.
Some analysts and fund managers argue that U.S. markets may have more room to run as low volatility and high investment confidence help support the momentum. Moreover, Bond added that recent healthy economic data, along with strong earnings results, also suggested more growth ahead.
Leading the charge this week, the traditional safe-haven utilities and growth-heavy technology sectors have outperformed, with both S&P 500 sectors up more than 2% in the past week. Tech shares have surged this year and outperformed on improved earnings results while dividend-paying utilities climbed on diminished inflation expectations.
On the other hand, S&P 500 energy companies were among the laggards this week, falling off almost 2.2%, on weakening crude oil prices, despite promises from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to extend production cuts through next year.
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