--- title: Market Commentary - Week ending March 16, 2018  description: Read our weekly Market Commentary for insights and information. image: https://info.pacificinvestmentresearch.com/hubfs/Guages_1.3-06.png --- [Blog](http://138.68.1.151/insights/the-pir-blog/) [Client Login](https://myaccountviewonline.com/accountview) - [About](https://pacificinvestmentresearch.com/about-pacific-investment-research/) - [Meet the Team](https://pacificinvestmentresearch.com/about-pacific-investment-research/meet-the-team/) - [Our Fees](https://pacificinvestmentresearch.com/about-pacific-investment-research/our-fees/) - [Contact Us](https://pacificinvestmentresearch.com/contact-us/) - [Why Pacific?](https://pacificinvestmentresearch.com/why-pacific/) - [Are We Right for You?](https://pacificinvestmentresearch.com/why-pacific/are-we-right-for-you/) - [Key Facts & Credentials](https://pacificinvestmentresearch.com/why-pacific/key-facts-credentials/) - [Active Management](https://pacificinvestmentresearch.com/why-pacific/active-management/) - 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Meanwhile our Short Term Indicator was less Bullish than last week. ** -  The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back some of last week’s gains, falling 1.5%, or 389 points to close at 24,946. The technology-heavy NASDAQ Composite fell a lesser 1%, ending the week at 7,482. By market cap, large caps pulled back more than their smaller cap brethren. The large cap S&P 500 index gave up -1.2%, while the mid cap S&P 400 and small cap Russell 2000 each fell -0.7%. - On the international front Morgan Stanley Capital International, developed markets slipped -0.44%, while emerging markets fell -1.1%. ![Indices10.png](https://info.pacificinvestmentresearch.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Indices10.png?width=840&height=472&name=Indices10.png) - Precious metals lost some of their luster as Gold retraced 0.9% or -$11.70 to close at $1312.30 an ounce. Silver, which usually trades similarly to Gold but with more volatility, fell 2% to close at $16.27 an ounce.In energy, crude oil had its second week of gains. West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose $0.37 to close at $62.41 a barrel, a gain of 0.6%. Similarly, Brent crude oil ended the week up 0.78% to close at $66 per barrel.   - The number of Americans seeking new unemployment benefits fell slightly last week, remaining near a 50-year low. The Labor Department reported initial jobless claims declined by 4,000 to 226,000,well within the key 300,000 threshold that analysts use to indicate a “healthy” jobs market. Last week was the 158th consecutive week that claims remained below that level. Even more encouraging is the unemployment rate,which sits at a 17-year low of 4.1% and is likely to drop even lower in the coming months. Federal Reserve officials consider the labor market to be near or even a little beyond “full employment”. Continuing claims, which counts the number of people already receiving benefits, rose by 4,000 to 1.88 million. Continuing claims dropped below 2 million last spring and have remained there ever since. 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