Stocks on Friday ended a volatile week on a mixed note, with Wall Street traders giving up on an early rally as markets struggle to balance the strengthening economic recovery against a broad-based surge in prices.
Asset prices have been shaken by the prospect of inflation derailing the recovery from the pandemic, and potentially nudging the Federal Reserve to reverse its crisis-era policy sooner than expected. On Thursday, the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P managed to snap a 3-day losing streak on news that workers filing for new unemployment benefits fell to a new COVID-19 era low, their lowest in over a year.
“From our perspective, we do not anticipate that this sharp uptick will translate into a prolonged period of elevated inflation, nor do we believe the Fed is currently running the risk of a policy mistake down the road by not pulling forward its timeline on tapering and rate hikes, as some pundits are suggesting,” Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at BMO Capital Markets.
