- After a key measure of inflation cooled last month, suggesting the Federal Reserve may be nearing the end of its rate-hiking campaign, technology shares extended the week's rally in US stocks. Treasury yields increased.
- The Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, rose 0.3% in February, slightly less than the median estimate. Meanwhile, the PCE price index was up 5% year on year, a slowing from January but still far above the Fed's 2% target.
- The S&P 500 gained 1.4%, bringing its weekly gains to 3.5%, the highest since November, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 gained 1.7%, helping it to its best quarterly gain since June 2020.
- Treasuries finished the quarter of wild swings higher on Friday, as investors struggled to adjust to recent bank failures and a shifting interest rate outlook. The two-year yield was around 4.03% on Friday, while the 10-year maturity was 3.47%. The dollar gained ground against its major counterparts.
- In other market news, oil traded in New York gained 9% in a week due to ongoing disruptions to Iraqi exports. Bitcoin had its best quarter since March 2021, gaining roughly 70%.
