Stocks pulled back this week and were unable to add to historic gains from the previous week as the war against the COVID-19 pandemic wages on. Stabilization of US cases remains elusive, though evidence has emerged that the worst of Europe’s crisis may have passed.

The S&P 500 Index lost 2.1% for the week, but remains about 11% off the March 23 lows. Among the major indexes we track, the Nasdaq was the top performer, as growth and technology-oriented stocks resumed their outperformance.

Small caps lagged large caps considerably, while growth modestly outperformed value. Energy was the top performing sector

We continue to follow our Road to Recovery Playbook for guidance in assessing the market’s bottoming process.

In recent updates, we had indicated that four of the five signals were checked off. We have a sense of the severity of the recession (#2), which now we know has arrived. Analysis of the market’s technicals and investor sentiment (#4) pointed to a “washout” with indiscriminate selling and possible seller exhaustion. And we had the “shock and awe” policy response from lawmakers in Washington and the Federal Reserve (#5) to help restore confidence and cushion the economic blow. As of the l

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly employment report this morning, showing the US jobs market posted its first month-over-month decline in March since September 2010. As seen in the chart below, total nonfarm payrolls fell by 701,000 during the March survey period, a sharp drop-off from what had been a sanguine trend. This ends one of the most impressive streaks of jobs gains in history at 113 months, one that weathered numerous economic shocks along the way.

The leisure and hospitality businesses were hardest hit. Social distancing orders, restaurant and bar closures, and a standstill in travel

Following last week’s more than 10% gain, the S&P 500 Index is tracking toward another weekly loss, its fifth of the last seven. This has many investors wondering if a retest of the lows may be in the cards for US equities. As we explored in our How Markets Bottom post, two of the bear markets we believe show the most similarities to our current one did retest or undercut the lows after the worst of the selling.

“Whether or not we get a retest is an open question,” said LPL Financial Senior Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “But we believe we’ve seen the worst of the selling, and we will be watchin