Market Updates

• The yield curve continued to flatten over the week with the two-year Treasury note increasing by ten basis points to yield 0.60% while the five-year note fell by three basis points to 1.14%.

• Equity indexes finished the week lower on virus concerns, elevated inflation readings, and Jerome Powell’s message to the senate banking committee last Tuesday that marked a notably hawkish pivot by the Fed Chair when he advised that it may be time to “retire the phrase transitory” regarding inflation.

• The November jobs report was mixed as the economy added only 210 thousand workers to non-farm payrolls versus an expected 550 thousand, however the unemployment rate fell more than expected to 4.2% while the participation rate increased to 61.8%.