May 2020 Market Recap
By Clint EdgingtonPosted on June 2nd, 2020
2020 continues to be a tumultuous year. While we are still figuring out the impacts of Covid-19 we now are dealing with flaring tensions from policing tactics and racial tensions. While we at Beacon Hill stand with both peaceful protests and peaceful, safe policing, we maintain focus on our task to analyze markets and our clients’ well-being.
The month of May extended the markets gains off the March “Covid swoon” with a 5% gain; as risk on assets continued April’s 13% bounceback. As the market tries to discount how the shutdown of the economy will impact companies’ future cash flows, Covid-19 news and stimulus efforts have been the driving force impacting the market.
Interestingly, while it’s difficult to parse what impacts were due to stimulus announcements and what were due to Covid news, it appears the market did a decent job of noticing the case count was not, in fact, exponential and likely predicted a flattening of the curve before it occurred.
Sources:
“Total confirmed COVID-19 cases,” Our World in Data, Global Change Data Lab, accessed June 1, 2020, (Source)
“Timeline of Events Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic,” FRASER, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, accessed June 1, 2020, (Source)
Gabe Alpert, “COVID-19 Government Stimulus and Financial Relief Guide,” Investopedia, updated May 27, 2020, (Source)