Were you prepared for Friday’s shocker of a job’s report? It’s been a while since we’ve seen some truly good news on employment, so we won’t blame you if you had to reread the headline a few times. Not only was the gap between the forecast and actual payrolls the single largest on record, but it looks as though many who were laid off may return to their positions as (slightly more) normal economic activity resumes.

While growth in corporate profits and earnings have stalled in the past few years, equity gains have continued on largely unimpeded, even through the COVID-19 crisis. What will it take to bring prices back to earth and moderate the overvaluation?

The ISM Manufacturing PMI report showed a modest improvement last month, narrowly beating analyst expectations and (hopefully) establishing some upward momentum. The sector has been struggling since mid-2019 and it’s fledgling recovery earlier this year was cut short by the COVID-19 outbreak—let’s hope these gains have more staying power.

Five months in to an unprecedented year for the markets and U.S. equities have staged a furious rebound from their March troughs. Large caps are still leading the charge with the S&P 500® Index clawing its way up from a return of ~-30% to -5.77%. Will the upward trajectory continue despite a tumultuous (and gut-wrenching) weekend of unrest across the country?

Nearly two million more Americans found themselves out of a job and applying for unemployment last week in the coronavirus-era trend that just won’t quit (no pun intended). Continuing claims, however, fell in what could be an indication that firms are rehiring as states begin to reopen, but we’ll have to wait and see.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo rang the bell to mark the reopening of the NYSE yesterday and the markets were quickly off to the races; the S&P 500® Index even briefly topped the 3,000 level and its 200-day moving average.

While we’ve seen a partial recovery in the equity markets, volatility remains with over a quarter of the trading days so far in 2020 swinging 3% or more. That is well above levels we saw even in the early 2000’s or during the Great Recession. Meanwhile, forward P/E ratios for the S&P 500® Index, S&P 600 and S&P 400 have all surged to hit new all time highs and gold has climbed its way back from its March lows.

Now that nearly all states have some plan in place to reopen, we are kicking off this week with a COVID-19 update. Despite the fact that testing is still significantly limited and the number of new cases reported worldwide is still climbing, 46 states have either reopened fully, reopened regionally or have plans to reopen in the next week.

Happy Friday! As we wrap up the week we take a look at some positive news on the COVID-19 front. New cases in most European countries, in addition to China and South Korea, are trending down with one notable exception…will Europe’s poster child for “Do Nothing” regret that decision?

Stocks fell into the close today on bleak statements from Fed Chair Jerome Powell this morning in an online speech. He described the future as “highly uncertain and subject to significant downside risks,” urging the White House and Congress to provide more stimulus.