Market Summary Week Ending 30/04/2023

On Monday (01 May), in a further shake up to the banking sector, it was announced that JP Morgan Chase has taken over the troubled US bank First Republic in a deal brokered by regulators. The Wall Street giant said it would pay $10.6bn (£8.5bn) to the Federal Insurance Deposit Corp (FIDC) after officials shut down the smaller bank.

This announcement was made after the stock plunged over 43% following reports it would be taken into receivership by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the process by which the exiting affairs of a failed bank are handled to ensure protection of existing customer deposits and assets.

Further news from the US showed that the personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.3% in March, which was in line with economist expectations. The index is a key gauge of inflation for the Federal Reserve, which has a policy meeting scheduled for next week where it is predicted by many analysts that interest rates will be raised further from its current rate of 5%.

Despite this, because of positive earnings announcements across the trading week, the Nasdaq saw the largest gain, at 1.30%, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 both finishing up around 0.9%.

For the trading month, The Dow Jones finished April 2.5% higher, its best monthly showing since January, when the average ended up 2.8%. The S&P 500 logged a 1.50% monthly gain, its second positive month in a row, while the Nasdaq ended the month only slightly higher.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 ended a rocky week on firmer ground, boosted by gains in energy and healthcare stocks, with a gain of 0.5% on Friday, but overall performance was down 0.44% across the week. For the month of April, the index rose by 3.10% as investors returned to markets following the volatility seen in March’s trading.

 

Please note: for this weekly summary, we focus on the major indices within the financial markets such as the FTSE 100 (UK) and the Dow Jones and NASDAQ (US) to provide a factual account of what has happened within a certain index. Performance figures quoted are factual from the previous week’s trading and this summary is for commentary purposes only. The performance of these indices is not a representation of an individual fund or portfolio. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. The value of your investment can go down as well as up. You could get back less than you originally invested.