{"id":12745,"date":"2026-04-17T09:14:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hazelbakerfinancial.com\/weekly-market-performance-april-17-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:14:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:14:23","slug":"weekly-market-performance-april-17-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advisors3.bradcable.com\/hazelbakerfinancial\/weekly-market-performance-april-17-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Market Performance | April 17, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

LPL Research<\/a>
\nLast Updated: April 17, 2026<\/p>\n

LPL Research provides its Weekly Market Performance for the week of\u00a0April\u00a013,\u00a02026.<\/b> Markets posted a strong weekly advance as easing geopolitical\u00a0tensions,\u00a0solid earnings reports, and better-than-expected inflation signals\u00a0fueled a risk-on tone. U.S. equities notched record highs on optimism around Middle East ceasefire developments\u00a0and abating energy supply concerns, alongside upbeat artificial intelligence (AI) related takeaways.\u00a0International equities were boosted by the same dynamics, broadly, while\u00a0Treasury yields fell\u00a0alongside crude oil prices. Commodities were mixed, with oil\u00a0prices\u00a0weighing on\u00a0benchmarks for the complex,\u00a0while\u00a0gold\u00a0gained ground.<\/p>\n

Stock Index Performance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Index<\/b><\/td>\nWeek-Ending<\/b><\/td>\nOne Month<\/b><\/td>\nYear to Date<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
S&P 500<\/b><\/td>\n4.47%<\/td>\n6.04%<\/td>\n4.03%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dow Jones Industrial<\/b><\/td>\n3.14%<\/td>\n5.17%<\/td>\n2.83%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nasdaq Composite<\/b><\/td>\n6.55%<\/td>\n8.56%<\/td>\n5.00%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Russell 2000<\/b><\/td>\n5.42%<\/td>\n10.05%<\/td>\n11.74%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MSCI EAFE<\/b><\/td>\n2.07%<\/td>\n6.03%<\/td>\n8.61%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MSCI EM<\/b><\/td>\n4.93%<\/td>\n8.16%<\/td>\n16.15%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

S&P 500 Index Sectors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Sector<\/b><\/td>\nWeek-Ending<\/b><\/td>\nOne Month<\/b><\/td>\nYear to Date<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Materials<\/b><\/td>\n-0.18%<\/td>\n5.46%<\/td>\n14.23%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Utilities<\/b><\/td>\n-1.74%<\/td>\n-1.49%<\/td>\n8.07%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Industrials<\/b><\/td>\n1.23%<\/td>\n4.55%<\/td>\n11.93%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Consumer Staples<\/b><\/td>\n-0.15%<\/td>\n-1.96%<\/td>\n7.44%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Real Estate<\/b><\/td>\n3.81%<\/td>\n4.63%<\/td>\n10.94%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Health Care<\/b><\/td>\n0.75%<\/td>\n-0.42%<\/td>\n-4.12%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Financials<\/b><\/td>\n3.34%<\/td>\n6.31%<\/td>\n-4.24%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Consumer Discretionary<\/b><\/td>\n6.66%<\/td>\n8.09%<\/td>\n1.72%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Information Technology<\/b><\/td>\n7.69%<\/td>\n10.09%<\/td>\n4.34%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Communication Services<\/b><\/td>\n5.99%<\/td>\n7.23%<\/td>\n5.75%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Energy<\/b><\/td>\n-3.36%<\/td>\n-5.55%<\/td>\n22.85%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Fixed Income and Commodities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Indexes and Commodities<\/b><\/td>\nWeek-Ending<\/b><\/td>\nOne Month<\/b><\/td>\nYear to Date<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate<\/b><\/td>\n0.17%<\/td>\n0.06%<\/td>\n0.46%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bloomberg Credit<\/b><\/td>\n0.23%<\/td>\n0.57%<\/td>\n0.34%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bloomberg Munis<\/b><\/td>\n0.11%<\/td>\n0.12%<\/td>\n1.07%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bloomberg High Yield<\/b><\/td>\n0.39%<\/td>\n1.26%<\/td>\n1.20%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oil<\/b><\/td>\n-12.43%<\/td>\n-12.10%<\/td>\n47.28%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Natural Gas<\/b><\/td>\n1.06%<\/td>\n-11.77%<\/td>\n-27.40%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gold<\/b><\/td>\n2.23%<\/td>\n-3.00%<\/td>\n12.41%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Silver<\/b><\/td>\n7.22%<\/td>\n2.61%<\/td>\n13.53%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Source: LPL Research, Bloomberg 4\/17\/26 @3:13 p.m. ET
\nDisclosures: Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be invested in directly.<\/i><\/p>\n

U.S. and International Equities<\/h2>\n

U.S. Equities:\u00a0<\/b>Contrary to the popular saying, good things came in threes\u00a0this week as the S&P 500\u00a0put together three straight record highs on its way to a third straight weekly 3%+ weekly advance, broadly on the back of upbeat geopolitical takeaways.\u00a0Stocks quickly shrugged off U.S.-Iran talks over the weekend\u00a0that\u00a0failed\u00a0to\u00a0yield a resolution,\u00a0running with a positive spin on Monday\u2019s developments around Washington seeking a second round of negotiations. Reports of both sides mulling a ceasefire extension helped the equity benchmark punch back through the 7,000-point mark before the White House and Tehran agreed in-principle to extend the temporary truce\u00a0and Israel and Lebanon secured a ceasefire agreement.\u00a0Both agreements drove equities to build on gains\u00a0before\u00a0accelerating\u00a0Friday after Iran\u00a0reportedly made\u00a0key\u00a0concessions\u00a0around giving up its enriched uranium stockpile and\u00a0\u201cfully reopening\u201d the Strait of Hormuz for the duration of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Market chatter also continued to surround positive positioning and flow dynamics, while cooler-than-expected wholesale inflation results\u00a0were\u00a0also among constructive talking points.\u00a0Meanwhile, earnings season kicked off with America\u2019s largest financial institutions delivering first quarter results over the last five days.\u00a0Among those besting Wall Street\u2019s earnings forecasts were JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC),\u00a0Bank of America (BAC),\u00a0Citi (C), and PNC (PNC), with key takeaways around strong loan growth and improving credit quality.\u00a0Mostly higher big tech and index heavyweights were supportive\u00a0amid bright artificial intelligence (AI) headlines,\u00a0while\u00a0a big bounce in recently beaten down software names\u00a0also\u00a0helped propel the tech sector to the top of the weekly leaderboard.<\/p>\n

International Equities:\u00a0<\/b>European markets also traded with U.S.-Iran geopolitics\u00a0on center stage for the STOXX 600\u2019s weekly advance.\u00a0The upbeat takeaways around the Persian Gulf easily overshadowed the region\u2019s own earnings season\u00a0kick off\u00a0with investors sniffing for signals of how the Iran conflict may affect estimates and commentary.\u00a0Luxury names\u00a0led off\u00a0reports\u00a0with Paris-based luxury conglomerate LVMH\u00a0missing revenue\u00a0expectations\u00a0while\u00a0fellow\u00a0French\u00a0luxury designer Hermes offered weak first quarter sales. Elsewhere, a beat and raise from Dutch chip equipment maker\u00a0ASML\u00a0failed to\u00a0excite investors. Outside of earnings, U.K. shares\u00a0lagged\u00a0to end the week on political\u00a0uncertainty\u00a0surrounding Prime\u00a0Minister Starmer potentially misleading\u00a0Parliament\u00a0in\u00a0a 2024 U.S. ambassador appointment.<\/p>\n

The Asia-Pacific region also gained ground, with tech\u00a0enthusiasm\u00a0driving gains for outperformers. South Korea added over 5.5%, boosted by positive\u00a0AI\u00a0takeaways from around the globe, as well as macro data revealing a jump in April exports thanks to semiconductors. Taiwan outperformed\u00a0with some support from Taiwan Semiconductor earnings takeaways, while Japan\u2019s tech-heavy Nikkei outpaced the Topix, with the latter still facing a headwind from exporter names\u00a0and chatter around yen levels before later week\u00a0currency\u00a0strength.\u00a0In greater China, news of fresh AI models\u00a0and quantum computing headlines aided risk appetite, alongside better-than-expected first quarter economic growth.<\/p>\n

Fixed Income, Currency, and Commodity Markets<\/h2>\n

Fixed Income: <\/b>Core bonds, measured by the Bloomberg Aggregate\u00a0Index,\u00a0traded\u00a0higher this week on upbeat geopolitical takeaways and Friday\u2019s slide in crude oil prices, sending Treasury yields lower.\u00a0Falling Treasury yields also placed\u00a0corporate credit markets into focus as after widening to their highest levels since last April, spreads across both investment grade (IG) and high yield (HY) markets have retraced meaningfully, returning to more compressed levels as volatility has subsided. The combination of tighter spreads and the recent decline in Treasury yields\u00a0has\u00a0reduced all-in borrowing costs for issuers \u2014 particularly for higher-quality IG borrowers \u2014 prompting a wave of issuance that had been deferred after the Iran conflict temporarily sidelined primary market activity. For the week of April 6, gross issuance\u00a0was\u00a0roughly 20%\u00a0higher than last year\u2019s already elevated pace and\u00a0despite the heavy supply calendar, investor demand\u00a0has\u00a0remained\u00a0robust\u00a0and\u00a0new deals were oversubscribed.<\/p>\n

Within this supply surge, issuance from\u00a0so-called\u00a0AI\u00a0hyperscalers\u00a0has been particularly notable. Of the\u00a0$673 billion\u00a0issued year to date,\u00a0roughly\u00a0$93 billion\u00a0has come from this cohort as they continue to fund large-scale capital expenditures related to data centers, cloud infrastructure, and AI compute.\u00a0Hyperscalers\u00a0 growing\u00a0presence, especially in longer-dated maturities, has materially increased their weight in\u00a0high-quality\u00a0long-end indexes, rising from approximately 12% in 1H25 to\u00a0roughly 14%\u00a0currently.\u00a0At the issuer level, spreads have widened for tech companies. Although macro-driven risk events have played a role, the sustained wave of supply since last September has been a key technical driver.<\/p>\n

Taken together, the backdrop\u00a0remains\u00a0one of strong\u00a0demand\u00a0absorbing elevated supply, but\u00a0issuer-specific\u00a0technicals \u2014 particularly among large, frequent\u00a0hyperscaler\u00a0borrowers \u2014 are increasingly shaping\u00a0relative\u00a0spread performance across the corporate credit landscape.<\/p>\n

Commodities and Currencies: <\/b>The broader commodities complex\u00a0retreated Friday, reversing week-to-date gains on volatile crude prices. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil\u00a0succumbed to downside pressure amid a steady stream of de-escalation headlines from the Mideast, sinking on Friday in response to\u00a0Iran\u2019s announcement that the Strait of Hormuz is \u201ccompletely open,\u201d easing concerns around a prolonged energy supply shortage.\u00a0Remarks from Washington around Iran surrendering its uranium stockpile added to decreasing geopolitical risks, but oil prices remained floored due to Iran warning against a continued U.S. naval blockade of the waterway and, despite the reopening of the Strait,\u00a0a world that must wait for energy shipments to arrive.\u00a0Elsewhere, gold prices jumped to end the week on hopes that a stable U.S.-Iran agreement may reduce inflationary pressures and\u00a0limit the need for tighter monetary policy from central banks \u2014 a positive for the non-yielding yellow metal. In currencies, the U.S. dollar weakened\u00a0for the second straight week on easing tensions in the Persian Gulf and traders\u00a0nearly doubling\u00a0bets on a Federal Reserve\u00a0(Fed)\u00a0rate cut this year, while other major currencies such as the yen and euro strengthened against the greenback.<\/p>\n

Economic Weekly Roundup<\/h2>\n

U.S. wholesale prices highlighted a\u00a0relatively light\u00a0economic calendar, arriving cooler than expected for\u00a0the month of March, based on\u00a0Producer Price Index (PPI) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.\u00a0Headline figures\u00a0roughly matched\u00a0a 0.5% increase in prices\u00a0indicated\u00a0by revised\u00a0February\u00a0data, with energy easily contributing the most amid the bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz, while services and goods inflation eased\u00a0from the previous month.\u00a0Increases in core wholesale prices, which\u00a0strips\u00a0out volatile food and energy prices, dropped to just\u00a00.1% last month.<\/p>\n

On an annual basis, however, producer prices rose to 4.0% from 3.4% a year prior.\u00a0Surging oil and gasoline prices were the\u00a0natural\u00a0culprit,\u00a0and\u00a0warrants\u00a0continued\u00a0attention\u00a0in the April report, but the modest rise was smaller than markets expected. On another note, Wall Street continues to\u00a0monitor\u00a0data for\u00a0visibility\u00a0on how companies are passing tariff-related effects on to consumers, and trade service costs (a\u00a0general proxy for profit margins) dropped for the second straight month in March after rising in December and January.<\/p>\n

The Week Ahead<\/h2>\n

The following economic data is slated for the week\u00a0ahead:<\/p>\n