2022 | September 6 

UPCOMING FIRM EVENTS

THE MARKETS

Stocks Fall

The major U.S. stock indexes fell around 3% to 4%, marking the third weekly setback in a row for the S&P 500. The decline was steepest for the NASDAQ, which has fallen nearly 11% over the past three weeks. The S&P 500 closed on Friday at 3,924.3 for a loss of 3.25 on the week.

The U.S. labor market didn’t generate new jobs in August at the same rapid clip that it did in July, but the latest month’s gain of 315,000 was slightly above most economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate rose to 3.7% from 3.5%, but that increase stemmed in part from a rise in Americans entering the labor force by seeking employment. 

The S&P 500 rose in early August but reversed course at midmonth, resulting in an overall decline of 4.2%. Energy was the strongest performer at the sector level with a 2.2% gain; information technology was the weakest with a 6.3% decline, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Companies in the S&P 500 posted an average second-quarter earnings gain of 6% over the same quarter a year earlier, according to FactSet data from the recently concluded earnings season. That result marked the slowest growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2020. For the second quarter in a row, energy was the strongest among all 11 sectors, with earnings growth of 293% in the latest quarter.  

Growing expectations for further sharp interest-rate increases weighed on prices of U.S. government bonds, sending the yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond up for the fifth week in a row. The yield climbed to around 3.20% on Friday, up from 2.64% at the end of July.   

Before closing the week at 3.40%, the yield of the 2-year U.S. Treasury bond on Thursday climbed to 3.52%, the highest level since 2007. The 2-year yield is especially sensitive to the near-term outlook for U.S. Federal Reserve policy and expectations for another big interest-rate increase to be announced on September 21. 

U.S. crude oil was trading around $87 per barrel on Friday, dropping more than 6% for the week. Concerns about softening global demand weighed on the price, in part owing to renewed economic restrictions in China to fight COVID-19 outbreaks in some cities.

Japan’s yen was trading at around 140 to the U.S. dollar on Friday, its lowest level since 1998. The yen’s value relative to the dollar has fallen around 18% year to date, in part reflecting expectations of higher interest rates in the United States and Japan’s continued embrace of a low-rate policy. 

Source: John Hancock Investment Management

TD Paper Mailings

Back To School

Across the country, school supplies have been purchased and many children have returned to the classroom to start a new school year. The give and take between teachers and students can produce some memorable – and humorous – moments. The following are from stories shared in Reader’s Digest.

Teacher: Where is your homework?

Student: It’s still in my pencil.

Teacher: Why can’t freshwater fish live in salt water?

Student: The salt would give them high blood pressure.

Teacher: How would you make the world a better place?

Student: I’d make potato skins a main dish rather than an appetizer.

Teacher: Mira went to the library at 5:15 and left at 6:45. How long was Mira at the library?

Student: Not long.

Teacher: Why do you think our librarian is leaving?

Student: Because she’s read all our books?

Teacher: In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, a man who is discontented with his life, wakes up to find he has been transformed into a large, disgusting insect.

Student: So, is this fiction or nonfiction?

Teacher: Why aren’t you wearing your glasses?

Student: My glasses are for reading, not math.

What are your favorite school stories?