Brief
This report covers the 15th week of the year spanning Friday, April 7th, through Friday, April 14th, 2023.
- Bitcoin gains $2,560 to close the week above 30k for the first time since June 2022
- Solana (SOL) is the top performing asset up 148.69% YTD
- S&P500 Real Estate Sector flipped negative YTD
- The US National Debt reported by the Treasury department shows the debt has been higher than the approved congressional limit for over 11 weeks
Economic Reports
Monday Apr 10th
- Nonfarm Payrolls for March increased 236K, less than the expected increase of 239K and less than last month’s increase of 326K
- Nonfarm Private Payrolls for March increased 189K, less than the expected increase of 213K and less than last month’s increase of 266K
- Unemployment Rate for March was 3.5%, less than the expected 3.6% and less than last month’s 3.6%
- Avg. Hourly Earnings for March was 0.3%, less than the expected 0.3% and more than last month’s 0.2%
- Average Workweek for March was 34.4, less than the expected 34.5 and less than last month’s 34.5
- Consumer Credit for February increased $15.3B, less than the expected increase of $18.0B and less than last month’s increase of $19.5B
- Wholesale Inventories for February increased 0.1%, less than the expected increase of 0.2% and more than last month’s decrease of 0.6%
Tuesday Apr 11th
- NFIB Small Business Optimism for March was 90.1, less than last month’s 90.9
Wednesday Apr 12th
- CPI for March increased 0.1%, less than the expected increase of 0.3% and less than last month’s increase of 0.4%
- Core CPI for March increased 0.4%, less than the expected increase of 0.4% and less than last month’s increase of 0.5%
Thursday Apr 13th
- Initial Jobless Claims for last week decreased by 11,000 to 239,000 new claims, more than the expected 203,000
- Continuing Jobless Claims decreased by 13,000 to 1.810 million
- PPI for March decreased 0.5%, less than the expected increase of 0.1% and less than last month’s decrease of .0%
- Core PPI for March decreased 0.1%, less than the expected increase of 0.2% and less than last month’s increase of 0.2%
Friday Apr 14th
- Retail Sales for March decreased 1.0%, less than the expected decrease of 0.4% and less than last month’s decrease of 0.2%
- Retail Sales ex-auto for March decreased 0.8%, less than the expected decrease of 0.4% and less than last month’s decrease of .0%
- Industrial Production for March increased 0.4%, more than the expected increase of 0.2% and more than last month’s increase of 0.2%
- Capacity Utilization for March was 79.8%, more than the expected 79.0% and more than last month’s 79.6%
- Business Inventories for February increased 0.2%, less than the expected increase of 0.3% and more than last month’s decrease of 0.2%
- Univ. of Michigan Consumer Sentiment – Prelim for April was 63.5, more than the expected 62.7 and more than last month’s 62.0
Next Week’s Major Reports
- Building Permits – Tuesday April 18th
- Housing Starts – Tuesday April 18th
- Existing Home Sales – Thursday April 20th
See more Economic News at Briefing.com or learn about each economic report on our education page
US Stocks
US stocks were up an average of 0.9% last week. S&P 500 Financials and Energy sectors lead the rise, up 2.86% and 2.47% respectively. The Real Estate sector declined the most loosing 1.45% and flipped negative YTD.
| Index | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DJIA | 33,886.47 | 401.18 | 1.20% | 33,343.43 | 34,054.99 | 2.23% | ||
| Nasdaq | 12,123.47 | 35.51 | 0.29% | 11,916.54 | 12,205.72 | 15.83% | ||
| S&P 500 | 4,137.64 | 32.62 | 0.79% | 4,072.55 | 4,163.19 | 7.77% | ||
| Wilshire 5000 | 40,870.25 | 363.53 | 0.90% | 40,445.83 | 41,151.49 | 7.34% |
| Index | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communication Services | 197.18 | 1.18 | 0.60% | 192.09 | 197.18 | 23.72% | ||
| Consumer Discretionary | 1,144.40 | 14.81 | 1.31% | 1,117.09 | 1,144.40 | 13.82% | ||
| Consumer Staples | 785.47 | -1.98 | -0.25% | 785.47 | 790.06 | 0.81% | ||
| Energy | 670.32 | 16.18 | 2.47% | 658.37 | 670.32 | -0.30% | ||
| Financials | 547.01 | 15.20 | 2.86% | 533.25 | 547.01 | -3.99% | ||
| Health Care | 1,568.38 | 11.05 | 0.71% | 1,556.75 | 1,580.81 | -1.08% | ||
| Industrials | 845.07 | 17.31 | 2.09% | 835.19 | 846.09 | 1.64% | ||
| Information Technology | 2,599.12 | -9.63 | -0.37% | 2,562.26 | 2,612.33 | 19.66% | ||
| Materials | 509.65 | 8.14 | 1.62% | 503.98 | 513.11 | 4.11% | ||
| Real Estate | 229.59 | -3.38 | -1.45% | 229.59 | 235.18 | -1.20% | ||
| Utilities | 349.97 | -4.75 | -1.34% | 349.97 | 354.24 | -2.37% |
Global Stocks
Stocks around the globe were up this week with Japan’s Nikkei and France’s CAC 40 leading the rise with 3.54% and 2.66% respectively.
| Index | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK FTSE 100 | 7,871.91 | 130.35 | 1.68% | 7,741.56 | 7,904.04 | 5.64% | ||
| France CAC 40 | 7,519.61 | 194.86 | 2.66% | 7,370.09 | 7,533.41 | 16.16% | ||
| Spain IBEX 35 | 9,362.90 | 50.60 | 0.54% | 9,227.10 | 9,378.40 | 13.78% | ||
| Germany DAX 40 | 15,807.50 | 209.61 | 1.34% | 15,625.79 | 15,841.47 | 13.53% | ||
| India BSE Sensex | 60,431.00 | 598.03 | 1.00% | 59,766.23 | 60,486.91 | -0.67% | ||
| China Shanghai Comp | 3,338.15 | 10.50 | 0.32% | 3,298.25 | 3,340.08 | 8.06% | ||
| HK Hang Seng 50 | 20,438.81 | 107.61 | 0.53% | 19,885.53 | 20,750.73 | 3.32% | ||
| Japan Nikkei 225 | 28,493.47 | 975.16 | 3.54% | 27,597.18 | 28,515.51 | 9.19% | ||
| Australia ASX 200 | 7,361.60 | 142.60 | 1.98% | 7,235.10 | 7,370.10 | 4.59% |
Currencies
The US Dollar (USD) was down across the globe this week except against the Russian Ruble, the dollar gained 1.45%, and Japan the dollar gained 1.23%. The dollar lost the most value in South America loosing 3.15% against the Columbian Peso and 2.93% against the Brazilian Real.
| Currency | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAD Canadian Dollar | 1.3364 | -0.0185 | -1.37% | 1.3303 | 1.3555 | -1.40% | ||
| MXN Mexican Peso | 18.0172 | -0.1079 | -0.60% | 17.9760 | 18.2840 | -7.55% | ||
| COP Colombian Peso | 4,423.14 | -143.86 | -3.15% | 4,396.34 | 4,592.83 | -8.78% | ||
| BRL Brazilian Real | 4.9080 | -0.1479 | -2.93% | 4.8955 | 5.0904 | -7.13% | ||
| GBP British Pound Sterling | 0.8055 | 0.0001 | 0.01% | 0.7969 | 0.8101 | -2.55% | ||
| EUR Euro | 0.9097 | -0.0071 | -0.77% | 0.9028 | 0.9233 | -2.64% | ||
| CHF Swiss Franc | 0.8937 | -0.0121 | -1.34% | 0.8860 | 0.9121 | -3.39% | ||
| CZK Czech Koruna | 21.2151 | -0.2384 | -1.11% | 20.9925 | 21.5643 | -6.00% | ||
| NOK Norwegian Krone | 10.3871 | -0.1130 | -1.08% | 10.2755 | 10.6040 | 5.89% | ||
| SEK Swedish Krona | 10.3265 | -0.1471 | -1.40% | 10.2362 | 10.5637 | -1.06% | ||
| RUB Russian Ruble | 82.28 | 1.18 | 1.45% | 81.01 | 82.71 | 11.57% | ||
| SAR Saudi Riyal | 3.7512 | -0.0007 | -0.02% | 3.7491 | 3.7548 | -0.18% | ||
| AED UAE Dirham | 3.6723 | -0.0004 | -0.01% | 3.6721 | 3.6730 | -0.01% | ||
| INR Indian Rupee | 81.85 | -0.03 | -0.04% | 81.51 | 82.20 | -1.09% | ||
| THB Thai Baht | 34.27 | 0.04 | 0.12% | 33.95 | 34.43 | -1.01% | ||
| SGD Singapore Dollar | 1.3304 | 0.0006 | 0.05% | 1.3206 | 1.3343 | -0.78% | ||
| MYR Malaysian Ringgit | 4.4020 | -0.0010 | -0.02% | 4.3809 | 4.4220 | -0.07% | ||
| CNH Chinese Yuan | 6.8716 | -0.0058 | -0.08% | 6.8303 | 6.8983 | -0.72% | ||
| HKD Hong Kong Dollar | 7.8500 | 0.0001 | 0.00% | 7.8474 | 7.8502 | 0.56% | ||
| KRW South Korean Won | 1,304.37 | -11.97 | -0.91% | 1,294.68 | 1,328.18 | 3.36% | ||
| JPY Japanese Yen | 133.79 | 1.62 | 1.23% | 131.83 | 134.05 | 2.04% | ||
| AUD Australian Dollar | 1.4910 | -0.0020 | -0.13% | 1.4691 | 1.5110 | 1.76% | ||
| NZD New Zealand Dollar | 1.6108 | 0.0128 | 0.80% | 1.5833 | 1.6179 | 2.29% |
* Rates are quoted as the amount of local currency to buy 1 US Dollar.
Commodities
- Average US Regular Gas Price – increased 9.9 cents or 2.83% this week to $3.596 a gallon. See more about US Regular Gas Prices.
- EIA Crude Oil Inventories – increased by 0.59M barrels last week compared to prior week decrease of 3.74M
- EIA Natural Gas Inventories – increased 25 bcf last week compared to prior week decrease of 23 bcf (billion cubic feet)
Commodities up across the board except gold was slightly down this week. Natural Gas was up 5.12% and Lumber jumped 8.94%.
| Commodity | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 2,015.80 | -10.60 | -0.52% | 1,996.50 | 2,063.40 | 10.38% | ||
| Silver | 25.46 | 0.37 | 1.46% | 24.78 | 26.24 | 5.91% | ||
| Platinum | 1,054.00 | 37.20 | 3.66% | 995.80 | 1,071.10 | -2.67% | ||
| Palladium | 1,496.30 | 33.90 | 2.32% | 1,402.00 | 1,524.50 | -16.78% | ||
| Crude Oil | 82.52 | 1.82 | 2.26% | 79.37 | 83.53 | 2.82% | ||
| Natural Gas | 2.1140 | 0.1030 | 5.12% | 1.9460 | 2.2470 | -48.49% | ||
| Lumber | 419.30 | 34.40 | 8.94% | 379.20 | 421.40 | 12.20% | ||
| Steel (HRC) | 1,117.00 | 26.00 | 2.38% | 1,090.00 | 1,144.00 | 50.13% | ||
| Copper | 4.1065 | 0.0910 | 2.27% | 3.9630 | 4.1955 | 7.77% | ||
| Corn | 6.3575 | -0.0775 | -1.20% | 6.2300 | 6.6175 | -6.30% | ||
| Wheat | 6.8250 | 0.0700 | 1.04% | 6.6125 | 6.8750 | -13.83% | ||
| Soybeans | 15.0050 | 0.0800 | 0.54% | 14.8250 | 15.2225 | -1.54% | ||
| Coffee | 1.9150 | 0.0790 | 4.30% | 1.8160 | 1.9810 | 14.47% | ||
| Cattle | 1.6373 | 0.0063 | 0.38% | 1.6255 | 1.6628 | 3.69% | ||
| Lean Hogs | 0.8688 | -0.0130 | -1.47% | 0.8543 | 0.8990 | -0.94% |
Interest Rates
- Federal Funds Effective Rate – remained the same this week at 4.83% with the target rate between 4.75-5.00% since the March 22nd, 2023 increase of 25 basis points. See more about the Federal Funds Rate.
- 30 Year Average US Mortgage Rates – decreased this week to 6.27% from 6.28% last week. Learn more about 30 year mortgage rates.
- MBA Mortgage Applications Index – increased by 5.3% this week compared to the prior week decrease of 4.1%
| Maturity | Week Close | Week Change | Low | Week Range | High | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 1 Month | 4.028% | -0.436% | 3.766% | 4.571% | ||
| US 3 Month | 5.061% | 0.197% | 4.784% | 5.077% | ||
| US 1 Year | 4.847% | 0.182% | 4.433% | 4.877% | ||
| US 5 Year | 3.611% | 0.105% | 3.401% | 3.635% | ||
| US 10 Year | 3.520% | 0.115% | 3.340% | 3.539% | ||
| US 30 Year | 3.740% | 0.117% | 3.566% | 3.757% |
Cryptocurrencies
- Total Crypto Market Cap – increased 8.11% or 95.31B this week to 1,271B
- Bitcoin Supply – 6,325 more Bitcoin have been mined this week, the total supply is now 19,346,337 out of the max supply of 21M. The max supply is 92.13% mined.
Ethereum (ETH) surged this week gaining $236 or 12.65%, Bitcoin (BTC) also jumped gaining $2,560 or 9.17%.
| Rank* | Crypto | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | % of Market** | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BTC | 30,485.70 | 2,559.84 | 9.17% | 46.39% | 27,828.48 | 31,005.61 | 84.23% | ||
| 2 | ETH | 2,101.64 | 236.00 | 12.65% | 19.87% | 1,828.70 | 2,126.32 | 75.61% | ||
| 3 | BNB | 329.17 | 18.47 | 5.94% | 4.04% | 309.88 | 335.52 | 33.62% | ||
| 4 | XRP | 0.5240 | 0.0103 | 2.01% | 2.13% | 0.5009 | 0.5438 | 54.16% | ||
| 5 | ADA | 0.4383 | 0.0547 | 14.26% | 1.20% | 0.3811 | 0.4441 | 77.81% | ||
| 6 | DOGE | 0.0888 | 0.0063 | 7.66% | 0.97% | 0.0810 | 0.0911 | 26.31% | ||
| 7 | MATIC | 1.1620 | 0.0544 | 4.91% | 0.84% | 1.0852 | 1.1903 | 53.20% | ||
| 8 | SOL | 24.77 | 4.30 | 21.01% | 0.76% | 19.95 | 25.46 | 148.69% | ||
| 9 | DOT | 6.7340 | 0.5492 | 8.88% | 0.62% | 6.1127 | 6.8386 | 56.24% | ||
| 10 | LTC | 96.45 | 5.81 | 6.41% | 0.55% | 89.39 | 98.81 | 37.79% |
* Rank is based on market cap of non-stablecoins.
** Represents the % of the total crypto market cap
Other Fascinating Stats
The US National Debt decreased 0.37 billion (Wednesday Apr 5th to Wednesday Apr 12th), to a total debt of $31,456,929,921,358.54 according to the Treasury Department. The National Debt has surpassed congresses approved debt limit of 31.381 trillion for over 11 weeks now. See the Debt to the Penny.
The number of solar Sunspots (magnetic storms on the surface of the sun) increased this week to 154 from 33 last week, the sun has had 0 spotless days in 2023. See more about Sunspots and space weather.
NASA has cataloged 10 new exoplanets this week increasing the total to 5,332 confirmed and catalogued Exoplanets across 4,000 confirmed Planetary Systems. 91 Exoplanets have been confirmed this year so far and there are 9,432 Exoplanet Candidates being evaluated for confirmation. Learn about all of the Exoplanets from NASA’s Exoplanet Catalog.