Week of May 1 ’26 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“The consistency you seek is in your mind, not in the markets.” — Mark Douglas
1. Home Price Growth Unexpectedly Slowed in February. Blame High Mortgage Rates — Prices in an index tracking 20 of the nation’s large metropolitan areas rose 0.9% from a year ago, according to S&P Cotality Case-Shiller index data. That’s down from a 1.2% gain in January and slower than the 1.3% increase economists had anticipated, according to FactSet.
Prices nationally increased 0.7% from the year prior, slower than their 0.8% gain in January. Prices dropped most in Denver, where they fell 2.2%. Close behind were Tampa, Florida, where prices dropped 2.1%, and Seattle, where they fell 2%. Prices rose most in Chicago, New York, and Cleveland, with gains of 5%, 4.7%, and 4.2%, respectively.
2. Divided Fed Officials Hold Rates; Powell to Stay as Governor — Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged, but revealed a deepening division over the outlook for policy amid increased uncertainty caused by the conflict in the Middle East. In what will be his last press conference as Fed chair, Jerome Powell said he intends to remain at the central bank as a member of its Board of Governors. He said Justice Department officials had assured him over the weekend they wouldn’t restart a controversial criminal investigation into the central bank unless the Fed’s internal watchdog recommended that.
3. Trump Says He Rejects Iran Hormuz Offer, Keeps Blockade — Trump said he had rejected a recent proposal from Iran to reopen the strait but that would have delayed talks on the nuclear issue until later. While Trump said he’d stick with the blockade, US military commanders have prepared a plan for a short and powerful wave of strikes on Iran to raise pressure on the regime, Axios said, citing people with knowledge of the preparations.
4. Core inflation rate hit 3.2% in March as first-quarter growth disappointed at 2% — The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes food and energy, accelerated a seasonally adjusted 0.3% for the month, pushing the 12-month inflation rate to 3.2%, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The readings matched the Dow Jones consensus estimates. Core inflation hit its highest level since November 2023. In other economic news , the Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product grew at a 2% seasonally adjusted annualized pace in the first quarter, up from 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025 but lower than the 2.2% estimate. The modest growth rate came despite a seeming surge in spending on artificial intelligence and what should have been a boost from the end of last year’s government shutdown.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
