Markets Rebound Sharply, but Policy Uncertainty Remains
U.S. equities staged a powerful comeback in May, with the S&P 500 Index posting a 6.3% return, its strongest monthly gain since November 2023. Leading the charge were Large Cap Growth stocks, as the Nasdaq 100 surged 9.2% and the Russell 1000 Growth climbed 8.9%.
Technology continued to outperform as the top S&P 500 sector for the second straight month. Industrials and Consumer Discretionary sectors also posted strong gains of over 8% each. In contrast, Health Care was the only sector to end the month in negative territory, while traditionally defensive sectors underperformed amid broad market strength.
The Bond market continues to face headwinds due in large part to the pending tax bill we discussed last week. The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index declined 0.6% in May. However, corporate bonds outperformed, helped by tightening credit spreads, as investment-grade corporate bonds returned 0.2%, and high-yield bonds advanced 1.7%.
International equities also moved higher, though they lagged the U.S. market. Developed Markets gained 4.8%, and Emerging Markets returned 4.0%, both positive but trailing the S&P 500’s strong showing.
Want to read more? Click below to download our entire market commentary…
The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. It is a market value weighted index with each stock’s weight in the Index proportionate to its market value.
The NASDAQ 100 Index is an unmanaged group of the 100 biggest companies listed on the NASDAQ Composite Index. The list is updated quarterly and companies on this Index are typically representative of technology-related industries, such as computer hardware and software products, telecommunications, biotechnology and retail/wholesale trade.
The Russell 1000® Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 1000 companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values.
Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based measure of the investment grade, US dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market. PM-12092026-8055818.1.1
