Sector performance diverged, with Utilities soaring 10.4% and Energy advancing 9.5%. Four sectors finished negative, with Financials lagging hardest for the second straight month, down 3.8%.
The Federal Reserve’s next meeting is scheduled for March 18, though expectations for any rate cut remain muted at 2%. Nonfarm payrolls greatly exceeded expectations by 75,000 jobs in January, as the unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage points to 4.3%.
Housing prices continued to fall, but existing home sales activity experienced its sharpest decline since the COVID-19 lockdown, down 8.43% MoM. Inflation continues moving closer to the 2% target, down to 2.40% in January.
Treasury yields fell sharply in February, with the 1-month the only one to increase, up just 2 basis points to 3.74%. The 10-year saw the sharpest decline, down 29 bps to 3.97%, while the 3-, 5-, 20-, and 30-year all dropped by more than 20 bps.
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