Weekly Market Update (06/18/2023 - 06/24/2023)

U.S. Housing

• Residential Housing Starts spiked up +20% month-on-month.

• 30-Year mortgage rates remain elevated despite recent Fed announcement to pause interest rate hikes.

• Housing affordability remains stubbornly low with no sign for improvement in the short-run unless a shift in interest rates occurs.

Equities

• U.S. equities lower on the week with Real Estate and Energy stocks dragging down indices. Healthcare, consumer discretionary, consumer staples were best weekly performers.

• U.S. Tech is best performing U.S. equity sector YTD by being up +30%.

• German and French equities lead the developed market equities group as they are up +16% year-to-date.

Currencies

• U.S. dollar appreciated versus main trading pairs (EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD) on the week. The JPY and AUD depreciated by 1.07% and 2.48%, respectively, on the week.

• Months-long trend of a depreciating dollar versus EUR and GBP since October of last year continues to be significant.

Commodities

• Gold price remains close for $2000 per ounce and is 5% up YTD mainly due to the spike that occurred in early March after the bankruptcy and collapse of Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank.

• Natural Gas and oil prices slid in the past week and YTD prices are down 37% and 14% respectively.

Interest Rates

• Shorter-term treasury rate remain relatively elevated compared to longer-term treasury rates.

• Spreads between 10year treasury rate and short-term treasury rates continue to widen.

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Disclosure: This is not investment advice. Blue Portal Insight does not provide investment advice but rather provides commentary on market movements and insight into industry information. For investment advice, please refer to your financial advisor or an equally licensed professional.