Stocks rose sharply last week, as investors welcomed a strong February payrolls report and were relieved that wage growth moderated. Wall Street was also pleased that North Korea has stated it is willing to conditionally denuclearize and that President Trump had accepted Kim Jung Un’s invitation to meet in May. Investors were also relieved that President Trump exempted Canada and Mexico from his signed order to impose a 25% tariff on imported steel and 10% on aluminum imports, effective March 23. Commerce officials said 313,000 new jobs were added in February, surpassing projections for 200,000, while revisions for the prior two months showed the economy created an additional 54,000 jobs. Separate data showed the unemployment rate held steady at 17-year low of 4.1%.
For the week, the S&P 500 advanced +3.25%, the Dow Industrials gained +3.59% and the MSCI EAFE (developed international) rose +1.86%.
North Korea Seeks Peace Treaty -- Bloomberg
NY Fed Expects Inflation Rise -- Reuters

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