Record Week For Stocks On Easy Monetary Policy And Uptrend In Housing Data

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• US equity markets rallied to record highs on the week as investors cheered the dovish tack by the Federal Reserve, which indicated it’s ready to respond to softening global growth.

• Geopolitical tensions heated up with Iran, sending crude oil prices surging more than 9% on the week. State-side, it was another week of “IPO Mania”.

• Already pricing-in dovish monetary conditions, the recently high-flying REITs underperformed on the week despite a decline in the 10-year yield to the lowest weekly close since 2016.

• Beginning to reflect the plunge in fixed mortgage rates this year, existing home sales and housing starts both exceeded estimates. Multifamily starts jumped to the highest monthly rate since 2016.

• Single-family markets have yet to kick into high-gear, however, as homebuilder sentiment ticked lower in June. Homebuilders finished sharply lower on the week following a cluster of analyst downgrades.