Geopolitical and economic issues, including high inflation, multi-year high 10-year U.S. treasury yield, the Fed's tighter monetary policy, deepening supply chain constraints, and the escalating war in Russia-Ukraine have been weighing on the markets. Furthermore, consumer prices climbed further in March and hit 8.5% annually, its highest level since December 1981, contributing to the bearish investor sentiment. The S&P 500 has been down 2.2% over the past five days, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.1% over this period.
Despite the current challenges, the U.S. added 431,000 jobs in March, bringing the unemployment rate to 3.6%. Furthermore, the labor force participation rate has started to rise, and corporate profits in the last quarter are satisfactory, indicating a 21% increase from pre-pandemic levels. Such factors are expected to benefit growth-based companies with solid fundamentals and robust growth prospects. Investors' interest in growth stocks is evident in the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF's (SPYG) 3.3% gains over the past year.
