Historic progress was made on the Korean Peninsula when leaders of the North and South jointly agreed to work toward a formal peace agreement ending the 68 year war between them. Economic expansion in the U.S. slowed at a better than expected pace in Q1 according to preliminary estimates out of the Commerce Department. In addition to the better than expected U.S. GDP, weekly jobless claims came in at the lowest number in nearly 50 years. These positive signs do not drop total concerns of slowing global growth, rising interest rates and trade tensions which all could weigh on corporate profits going forward.

Both global and domestic equities for the week declined with some more than others. With the exception of emerging markets however, all are positive on a trailing 1-month basis. Earnings season is underway and despite companies beating predictions at a substantial rate stocks are having a hard time holding onto gains. The major market headline this week was the 10-year Treasury yield peaking above 3% for the first time since 2014 before cooling and ending the week within 5 basis points of the mark. As most asset classes disappointed, real estate performed well returning over 2.5% but is still down significantly YTD.

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