Given how much things have improved, I’ll be taking this video to a monthly schedule, on the second Friday of the month—I’ll see you then.

My colleague Sam Millette, senior investment research analyst on Commonwealth’s Investment Management and Research team, has helped me put together this month’s Market Risk Update. Thanks for the assist, Sam!

Equity markets continued to rally in April, with all three major U.S. indices setting new all-time highs during the month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.78 percent in April, while the S&P 500 saw a 5.34 percent increase. The Nasdaq Composite led the way with a 5.43 percent gain. Markets were supported by improvements on the public health front and falling long-term interest rates. The 10-year Treasury yield declined in April, breaking a three-month streak of rising long-term rates.

My colleague Sam Millette, senior investment research analyst on Commonwealth’s Investment Management and Research team, has helped me put together this month’s Economic Risk Factor Update. Thanks for the assist, Sam!

The economic recovery continued in April, driven by improvements on the public health front and the lingering tailwind from the most recent federal stimulus bill. Consumer confidence surged during the month, highlighting increased optimism from consumers for a return to more normal economic conditions throughout the year. Service sector confidence fell slightly in April but remains near record territory. The weakest data point was employment, with April’s employment report showing a significant drop in job growth. Although it marked four consecutive months with job growth, the drop called into question how sustainable recent job growth might be.

One of the big surprises over the past couple of weeks has been the strength of corporate earnings for the first quarter. As of the end of last week, according to FactSet, seven of eight companies (about 440 companies or 88 percent) had reported. Of these 440 companies, about 385 (86 percent) beat expected earnings. These are the highest levels of beats on earnings seen since the start of records in 2008.

Last week saw a number of important economic updates, with a focus on business confidence in April and the recent jobs reports. The April employment report showed a slowdown in the number of new jobs added, but weekly unemployment claims fell to a new pandemic-era low by the end of the month. This will be another busy week, with updates to come on April’s inflation, retail sales, and industrial production, as well as a first look at consumer confidence in May.

India is in the midst of a brutal second wave of COVID-19, with the situation continuing to deteriorate by the day. While the human toll is massive, the economic impact is also not insignificant. At the start of 2021, India was expected to be one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world. Now, it is expected to succumb to a massive economic shock.

April was a good month. While it started with what looked like another wave of infections, by month-end, we were back at recent lows for both case growth and positive test rates. Vaccinations have now hit a substantial part of the population, and that looks to have controlled the virus. The medical risks are still real, but they are now about whether and when we hit herd immunity, rather than whether we have a fourth wave. This is significant progress and means the medical risks are low and likely to decline further over the next month.

If the month of March was a turning point (and it was), the month of April demonstrated that March was not a fluke. The data showed we have really turned the corner in many ways. In April, the fourth wave of the pandemic started—and then fizzled out, resulting in much lower infection rates to end the month. Layoffs tumbled and consumer confidence rose to pre-pandemic levels. Markets rallied to all-time highs once again. In April, things got better across the board.

Last week saw the release of a number of important economic data reports. Better-than-expected consumer confidence and personal spending reports served as the week’s highlights. This week will be another busy one for news, with the focus on April’s business confidence and employment reports.

April was a good month for the markets. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained more than 5 percent, while the Dow was up almost 3 percent. These returns were driven, in part, by the medical news, with new case counts, hospitalizations, and deaths all down. While the medical risks declined, reopening accelerated. Job growth rose, and weekly layoffs dropped. Consumer confidence and spending also improved.