On a shortened week, the S&P 500 was positive in every trading day, helped by a better than expected unemployment report on Thursday. We haven’t seen an all green week on the S&P 500 since early April of last year. The unemployment rate positively surprised the market once again, with a June figure of 11.1%, better than the 12.5% expected and over a 2% improvement from May’s 13.3% rate. This is the second notable surprise in a row giving fuel to optimistic readings on the direction of the underlying economy, though not without caveats given the recent acceleration of new COVID cases. Underlying report was mixed with average hourly earnings continuing to fall (-1.2% vs. -1.0% in May), an increased participation rate, and another record (4.8M) number of added jobs. ISM Manufacturing index moved back into expansionary territory in June, rising to 52.6 from 43.1. This beat expectations by nearly 3 points and is the highest reading since April 2019. The Markit Manufacturing PMI Index also improved, but more modestly and staying just below the boundary between contractionary and expansionary readings.
Helios partners with Financial Advisors to help them grow their business, save time, and add scale to their services through enhanced asset management capabilities. Helios was founded in 2016 in Granite Bay, California.