Market Action

• Healthcare stocks posted one of their strongest weeks of the year and now represent the second best performing group in 2017 so far. The rise coincides with release of the Senate’s healthcare bill, deemed to be more favorable to a number of industries within the sector. Skepticism still remains on the bill’s passage out of the Senate.
• The 34 largest lenders in the U.S. all passed the first step of the Federal Reserve’s annual stress tests. The examinations revealed that all lenders had adequate capital in the event of an extreme recession. The second portion of the exams will be released next week, which details whether or not the central bank approves of banks’ capital plans.
• Oil has entered a bear market again after prices reached their lowest level in months. The market is bombarded with news and fears of excess supply despite OPEC cuts and Russia’s willingness to limit supplies. Shale production in the U.S. continues to accelerate.
• MSCI, a global leader in constructing market indices, agreed to include China’s mainland stock market into its ETFs, including its industry leading Emerging Markets ETF, EEM. The move means billions of dollars will flow into Chinese stocks while the move also represents progress China has made to open up its markets to foreign investors.
• Commodity prices have reached their lowest level in over a year, weighing down the market’s expectations for future inflation. That isn’t concerning Federal Reserve officials who continue to below target price levels as “transitory” and still see more room for tightening later this year.

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